My home is for the wicked

Trying to keep oneself entertained was proving harder and harder most days, even now with major renovations everything mostly was the same. Even the common room mostly had kept to it's roots, taking her place in her father's seat was much more warming sometimes than getting into bed on a cold night. Things had been tough recently with her identity crisis, everyone on base saw Grace as a little girl but it didn't seem right looking in the mirror. Some of the newer ones hadn't been briefed on her 'condition' and saw her as a viable catch, the looks on their faces when she told them she was only just over three years old was fun after awhile, now she craved people not to know.

Her fingers still ached from pumping out rounds in the armoury, she had tried a prowler out only to be told she wouldn't be allowed to use it in field regardless. She had inherited her father's love for precision shooting anyways, a good hour wasted in the day wasn't a bad thing. In Grace's mind she still had plenty of time to figure out what she liked or disliked, she did her best to think that she had extra time as an adult rather than lost time as a child.

After a brief look around the common room, the place was bustling at this time. Grace was watching what a few guards had chosen to put on which consisted of the latest soccer matches. Grace hadn't really figured out sport yet and it's global following, her father had promised to take her to a basketball game in L.A, but that seemed pretty far fetched at the current time. Letting out a heavy sigh, Grace picked up her feet and tucked them under herself, her toes were getting cold.

Being on any level other than the medical centre was a relief for Anna, the air was clean, the atmosphere calm and here she could forget the worries which waited several levels below her. Unfortunately she wasn’t in the busy common area for pleasure. Entering the vast facility, Anna’s emerald eyes scanned the vicinity looking for the dark chocolate coloured hair of her teenage daughter, not that she thought of her as such for chronologically, Grace was still her baby.

The heels of her smart shoes clicked against the tiling in a fast rhythm for she could only take short steps in the tight, grey pencil skirt. Soldiers seemed to be everywhere today, facing the large, plasma televisions playing a war game or gathered around the pool tables.

Soon her daughter came into view, the girl looked solemn sitting alone, her small frame engulfed by the large cushioned recliner. She should be with children her own age, toddlers.

Her purpose of her visit was forgotten upon seeing Grace’s mood, the fact that her daughter had visited the armoury yet again, Anna had tried to limit her exposure to violence but it was doomed endeavour. Perching on the chair beside her, Anna said in a soft, motherly voice, “you ok sweetie.”

“you ok sweetie.”

There was only one voice that didn't make Grace feel on edge and it was her mother's. Social situations were increasingly awkward as time seemed to go on and on. With every situation Grace seemed to say something that forwarded an awkward silence, she had yet to gain her fathers silver tongue. Her parents, Lurango and a few others were all that seemed natural. However hearing that one voice made everything in the room seem safe again, Grace even had the urge to put her hands out to be hugged, she quickly shoved back the reaction.

"Yes Mother! I think there is a big game on, it's so busy today" Grace responded enthusiasically with a broad smile, running her hands through her hair as a sign of the nerves still hanging around. Just as she had finished her sentence the common room erupted in cheers, some of the soldiers were shouting in disbelief but everyone was in uproar. It sent Grace into a violent scanning mode, desperatley trying to figure out what was going on. As quickly as the sound came it went away again, seemingly one of the teams had made a score. All the ways these sports were scored were different, Grace didn't know if it was a massive difference or a small one. Intruiging nonetheless.

"I guess now I know why there wasn't a que for the armour today, Have you seen Dad recently? Haven't seen him for a few days..." asked Grace, she wasn't worried but making some kind of small talk. It came naturally towards her mother and it was refreshing, it felt good. Another large shout again with plenty of swear words towards the referee, sounded more like the American sports her father watched from time to time. She missed watching them, as much as she would miss the variety of things she did with her mother.

“That’s why I’m here,” Anna said, the gentleness of her tone gaining a stern edge more like a boss about to berate an employee rather than a mother about to chide her child for she had had much more experience in the former.

“What have I said about limiting your time in the armoury?” Anna’s green eyes met her light blue. “Your education is much more important than playing with guns which are far too dangerous.”

The fact that her daughter had found a fascination in the armoury was in Anna’s world, a disaster. Being housed in a military base had caught up with her efforts and Grace thought the myriad of life taking instruments were ‘cool,’ something which Anna of course blamed Alex for completely.

“Have you finished the physics paper for Professor Rosenberg?” The Professor was a friend of Anna’s and tutored the young girl in the physical sciences and mathematics. He was leading mind in providing experimental proof of M theory and she was extremely grateful to him and considered them blessed to have landed as a tutor.

In fact Anna was jealous of the elite minds Grace had access to, the student of her youth would’ve sold her soul for such an experience which is why Anna found it so hard to understand why Grace preferred to hang out in the Shooting Range with a load of trigger happy half wits.

Remembering Grace’s question, Anna added, “I haven’t heard from your father either. I’ll send him a message to come up to meet you later.” The tension at this point was evident in Anna’s voice for she believed that Alex wasn’t pulling his weight, in fact that tension between the pair was growing daily. Grace must’ve noticed this but upon thinking about this subject, Anna came to the same conclusion every time, she and Alex weren’t meant to become parents at this point in their lives.

“Your education is much more important than playing with guns which are far too dangerous.”

"Mother, in all fairness, if the base gets invaded again i'd trust an M9 rather than Professor Rosenborg's text books" replied Grace with some of her father's brutal logic, effective yet destructive at times. Grace gave herself a private joke however, throwing Professor Rosenborg’s text books could probably cause a skull fracture, they were massive. It was strange for Grace however, she did enjoy learning things but the action outside the doors of URCS had no script, blurred the lines of what she was learning. It was exciting and unpredictable, she realised why her father spent so much time on the battlefields.

“Have you finished the physics paper for Professor Rosenberg?”

“Mostly, Professor always gives projects that are, in the end, unable to complete. I tried asking uncle Terrence about it, bless him, doesn’t know a lick of what I was talking about. We proceeded to have a conversation about fried chicken, and then we ate some. He is a simple man” responded Grace as she looked towards the screen, the game had died down a little bit now and it had made it able to speak to her mother without shouting above her voice. Grace did like the nights she spent with Lurango, it was good to shut her brain off a little bit and play video games, watch the more mainstream movies and watch late night comedy, watching Lurango squirm if something inappropriate came up was pretty fun too.

“I haven’t heard from your father either. I’ll send him a message to come up to meet you later.”

“It’s not a problem…” Grace stated, she was a terrible liar “He’s probably on an important mission or something”

Suddenly her eyes lit up at a thought and dimmed down immensely, she looked towards her mother with a silent gaze and back down towards her feet. She had heard of a mission coming up that could do with someone with her knowledge of Scotland culture and folklore. The Beast of Faildorn, a small team, she heard that Malfice was heading along too.

“Mother, there is a small mission going off to Scotland, before you say no, I’d be going strictly as an architect and nothing more, please mother?” begged Grace.

Using a look only mothers were capable of, the one in which they conveyed their disappointment while adding a touch of condescension for flavouring, Anna replied, “now your education is complete, you can now go work at any fast food place in the country, thanks to Uncle Terrance. Also if the base gets attacked, which it won’t, it won’t matter it twenty years time if you’re weapons but it will matter where you can work.”

A sinking feeling sat in her stomach. Despite the vampire gene which allowed her brain to absorb information easily, it evidently allowed her to feed off the impressions she got from her father. Her best efforts seemed in vain and she worried for her only child. A soldier’s life was a hard, solitary existence full of sacrifice. She didn’t want that for her daughter.

“I’m always here if you need me to help with your homework ok?”

The disappointment in Grace’s expression at the mention of Alex was enough to make Anna swear to herself that she’ll hunt him down after she’s done with their daughter. They hadn’t spoken in a while and she couldn’t avoid him forever, ranting at him about not seeing Grace was a good enough excuse.

The next request was surprising, not that Grace wanted to go but that she knew of it all. Then again nothing much was allowed to be kept secret but men and women were locked underground all the time.

“How do you know about the mission?” She asked, wanting to know who was feeding ideas into her mind, probably Terrance. “I’m not sure... you don’t have enough experience and it’s dangerous work Grace, don’t forget that. Maybe in a couple of years when you’ve had some more training.”

Grace brushed past her mother’s remarks on base invasions, realistically the URCS had a terrible record for base attacks. Even more so for a secretive organisation, two base attacks within a two year period was more than enough precedence for Grace to practise defending herself. There was always another war and another battle around the corner, the libraries showed her that much easily. In her mind, Grace was only three years old and she knew more than a twenty year old, she was far ahead on that notion.

“How do you know about the mission?”

“They are hardly keeping it subtle mum, the soldiers are crying out for people considering the losses at Malargue. They’d take a baby with a pee shooter by this point” Grace explained, truth be told was that she had overheard a lot of soldiers dropping out of the mission. Her point was true but it wasn’t as if she had been personally approached, the mission was urgent. It didn’t even seem that dangerous, there was just more pressing issues to be had. A lot of the recruiting URCS agents had more work than ever before, some of the soldiers had been apprenticing it seemed.

“I’m not sure... you don’t have enough experience and it’s dangerous work Grace, don’t forget that. Maybe in a couple of years when you’ve had some more training.”

“It’s not dangerous work! It really isn’t, the killer of the mighty bone beast is going, Malfice and Katelyn are leading the charge, no one will get through them…” Grace’s realisation was coming full circle that her mother wasn’t going to let this one go for all the world. She had always been protective over her and Grace could understand why, it was just suffocating sometimes. It was then that she had a light bulb moment.

“Why don’t you come with us mother?! Yes! Then you could look after me and get to do some more excavation work. Please Please Please Please!”

Danger took many forms, Anna thought, it came from the most innocent and unexpected places. It was very well for the girl to argue for something she knew nothing of, but Anna knew better. She had most definitely seen enough to not be enthusiastic about her daughter being face with the same horrors.

It looked to be a simple enough mission she supposed and the soldiers assigned to it were some of the best. It provided a means for the girl to see more of the country, an opportunity which was otherwise quite rare.

“I will talk to the senior staff on how they feel about you on their team,” Anna said with distain but her words were a sure see that Anna was relenting. “But don’t get your hopes up.” Looking into her daughter’s longing eyes, “you have to know that normal looking missions turn nasty very quickly. I don’t what you to think it’s as fun and easy of those war computer games. It’s not nice. Oh, and I’ll leave it to tell your father.”

That was an encounter Anna was going to avoid at all costs. There were two ways it would go, Alex the overprotective father or the father who was proud that his daughter was a chip off the old block and would encourage her to go. It was a 50/50 chance she believed.

“I wish you wouldn’t go...