Chapter 2
Scans the area. No sign of life. All business again. Walks away to probe more of the planet. That's all she did. Lance was starting to wonder how strong was that code of her. She barely showed any type of personality and it was freaking Lance the fuck out. She wanders through the pillars of cubed trash. Scans random areas. Lance spies from the shadows. Too frightened to approach. She moves on. He follows. That's how it went. She was now probing a mound of tires, Lance hiding nearby. He flinches at the sight of his mouse.
"What do YOU think you're doing?!" Lance said through his teeth. The mouse eyed the girl and started walking towards her.
"No no no- Aye! Tonto!" Lance sometimes would insult his companion in spanish. The mouse squeeked and got close to the murder girl. The mouse innocently approaching her from behind. She spins around and blasts the insect. Lance is gut-punched. His companion and tiny friend...It couldn't be...
"No..." He muttered more to himself since she couldn't possibly hear him. He made sure of that...He didn't want to end up a fried human. The mouse climbs out of the smoking crater. Unscratched. Still curious. Lance sighed in relief at that. The girl finds the insect intriguing. She lowers her arm and let's the small rodent climb on her. The mouse starts walking around and goes around her neck. It tickles her and she starts giggling. Lance relaxed and chuckled. So she wasn't so heartless. That's when the girl suddenly pulls out her other arm and shoots the mound of tires he was hiding behind.
"Woahhhh there- Heheh..." He says as he puts his hands up. She slowly approaches him.
"Who are you?" She asks. He was at a loss of words. She was even prettier AND scarier up close. He couldn't speak. He opened and closed his mouth multiple times trying to fine words as she was narrowing her eyes. That's when his mouse decided to help him. The mouse walked on her arm and Lance out-stretched his hand, letting the small animal jump on. The girl relaxed a bit and put two fingers on her glasses, scanning him. She lowered her arm as soon as she finished and left unimpressed. Lance looked at his small mouse friend in his palm and frowned.
"Rude..." He said. The mouse nodded. But the girl was already scanning the area. What a strong chip she must have had to lose her personality so badly.
Lance didn't quit following her. The next thing he knew he was following after her like a stray-puppy. She was just so intriguing. Plus, he has been alone for so long you couldn't necessarily blame him for following another human. It was...new to him. She was now scanning an abandoned market. Lance kind of wanted to see how she'd respond to one of his jokes. But she seemed a bit too serious for that stuff. She was scanning through the market when she glanced at him. He shrugged and leaned against one of the carts. That's when he slipped and the carts started pouring. Lance went running towards the door but it was closed, since it was a sliding door. The inevitable fate happened: He got hit by all the carts. Only then did the door slide open. Lance groaned. The girl snorted which made Lance's interest perked, but she quickly dismissed it as a cough. Guess she wasn't so unapproachable after all.
He followed her around some more and then soon enough it was night. He patiently watched the girl fly around. She scans the ground below her, like a searchlight. What was so important to find in this trashy place? heh...trashy. She comes in for a landing blow and suddenly she was in a capsule like before. What advanced technology...Lance jumped off the roof and looked at her. He circled her and even lightly tapped the capsule. Guess...this was how she slept?? He then gets a funny idea...what ifff...He backs away and puts his thumb out to measure her. He looks to the pile of trash on his right and smirks. Bingo~
Next morning, the girl woke up, the capsule opening and falling. She looks at thing in front of her and does a double take. She opens her mouth in shock and takes her glasses off frowning. Did her glasses look like that? She looked at the sculpture unimpressed as she pushed her glasses up and started walking away. Lance scoffs.
"Party pooper..." He leans against some pipes that fall down on him and he screams. Another failure.
She was growing frustrated and Lance could see it.
Scans a car engine. Negative. Slams the hood shut.
Scans a Port-A-Potty. Negative. Slams the door shut.
Scans an Apollo capsule. Negative. Slams the hatch shut.
Scans a Freighter hold. Negative. Slams the lid shut.
Everything just somehow seemed to be negative on that scanner of hers. She hovers over the freighter, frustrated. Not finding what she's looking for. Lance guessed that if you're trapped in a capsule for so long and only taken out for ONE MISSION that you can't even complete, you'd be pretty frustrated. Curse his over-understanding nature. Mama McLain did raise a good human boy. She flies past the ship's crane magnet and that's when it slowly starts following her. Lance wanted to say something but he knew better than to try and talk to her again. The girl then get's pulled by them and get's stuck. She groans and, being already annoyed, furious, she BLOWS UP THE ENTIRE SHIP. Lance's mouth fell open as it happened. Man she was a murder weapon. The girl falls down on a dredged anchor. She gives up. He knew that look. He blinked in surprise as she was slouched down and sad and--
He should probably walk away but his mouse frowned at him at he tried.
"Are you insane?! She'll kill me if I'm too close!" Lance hissed. The mouse frowned even more. Lance looked at the girl again and sighed. He grumbled but walked towards the anchor. He sits down at the other end of the anchor and wiggles his feet awkwardly. The girl is still slouched down. Lance eyes his companion. The mouse ushers him closer. Lance snarls at the small mouse but obliges anyways. Both humans stare silently at the fiery wreck. Then...slowly, very slowly, Lance inches towards her. He stopped and rubbed the side of his neck awkwardly. When he masters the courage to speak, she does first-
"Direttiva?" Lance blinked in confusion. The fuck did she just say? Wait- was that italian? She blinked and tried again.
"Richtlinie?" He raised a brow as he tilted his head.
"Maagizo?" She asked again. Lance was more surprised how she was changing languages so fast.
"Shirei?" Lance blinked again. The girl sighed.
"Directive?" She asked, this time in english.
He smiled.
"There we go! Now I can understand ya. As for that...uhh...." He gestured at the cubes of trash around them. She hummed.
"You?" Lance asked, inching just a bit closer so they could have a proper conversation. She looked at the fire again.
"Sorry. Classified." She said in a cold tone. Guess he was back to phase 1, huh?
"Name?" She asks him. He smirks. Maybe not phase 1...
"Lance. Lance McLain." The girl smiles a bit and out-stretches her hand.
"Kathlyn Holt." Lance blinks in surprise at the fancy name. 'Kathlyn'. The fuck?
"Anything...shorter?" He asks.
"Katie Holt?" He still hopes for something more-- Suddenly she giggles at him. What did he do now??
"But you can call me Pidge." Lance perks up at that. There we go~ Some personality up in here!
"Well Pidge, it's nice to meet you." Pidge nods. Lance smiles at the progress. Who knew that all he had to do was get closer a few inches?? That's when the wind kicks up. The warning started sounding as he looked at his arm. He frowned.
"Uh, Pidge--" He said and tried to grab her but she jolts away and puts her hand out in defense. Shit- They don't have time for this.
"Pidge, listen--" He tried to say but he could already see the storm behind her. Oh oh...
"What the hell were you doing--"
"Pidge! We don't have time for this!" She looked confused, right as the storm hit them. She was shielding her eyes and so was he. They couldn't stay in the open like this! He had to get her out as well- She wasn't used to Earth!
"Pidge! Come on!" He grabbed her arm and pulled her after him. She didn't resist this time. Next thing they knew? The back door lowers. A rush of wind and sand. Lance pulls Pidge inside. She coughs up dust as the door closes behind them. Lance sighs.
"You ok??" He asks, dusting his clothes. She nods and coughs a bit more. He snorts.
"First time, huh? You'll be fine." She pushes her glasses up and tries to adjust her eyes to the darkness. Lance makes an 'o' in understanding. He moves around and starts turning lights on around them. Pidge looks in awe at the place.
"Woah..." She says. Lance smirks. At least she likes it.
"Welcome to my home, I guess." The Christmas lights and all the interesting stuff on shelves left her in awe. Pidge slowly walks as she looks through his stuff.
"This is..." Pidge says, trying to find the right words. Lance snorts.
"A jumble of things, huh? Oh! Here!" He starts going around and picking cool stuff out of the junk filled shelves. Pidge however was getting startled by a Singing Billy Bass Fish. She put her arm out.
"Woahhh~ Ok there- Come here." He said as he put his arms around her shoulders and pulled her away from the toy. The small mouse was now enjoying a fancy BNL Twinkie and looking at the two. Lance hands her an eggbeater. She tilts her head in curiosity at it. Pidge started spinning it until it broke. Lance blinked in surprise.
"How the hell did you...No matter. Here." He gives her bubble wrap. She gasps with twinkles in her eyes as she popes one of the bubbles. As he went to pick something else, she already managed to pop the whole thing. Lance picked it up and looked at her in disbelief.
"Okkkk...No bubble wrap either. Tryyy~ This!" It was a lightbulb. Pidge held it and smirked as she then only held it with two fingers and it lit up. Lance spurted and came closer, taking it from her. He frowned. Nothing happened. He gave it back. Pidge raised a brow, amused as it lit up again. Next up, after he saltyly took back the lightbulb, he gave her a Rubik's cube. She gasped and started turning it. Lance watched with wide eyes, almost dropping the bulb as she solved the cube. He also had the Hello Dolly tape. He gave her the tape as he took the cube to inspect it. She accidently begins unspooling the tape.
"WOAH WOAH WOAH! MY TAPE!" Lance says as he catches her hand and takes the tape away from her. Protective. He spools it back and inserts it carefully into the VCR. 'Please still work' he prayed. The movie eventually appears on the TV, playing a clip of POYSC. Lance is relieved and he sighed.
"YOU! Will be the death of me." Lance said as he put a hand on his chest. Pidge got closer to the screen. She looked mesmerized by the dancing. Lance smirks.
"What do you think?" He says as he starts dancing as well. Pidge looks at the screen and then starts dancing as well. He chuckled as they both danced. They twirled around a bit but then clumsy Lance tripped. Pidge gasps.
"Are you ok??" She asks, concerned. He chuckles.
"I'm fine..." He mumbles, but as he sits up his eye shuts off, leaving a dark ball instead. Pidge covers her mouth. Lance frowns.
"Shit...Don't worry, i'll be fine- I just need to-- Oof!" He says as he accidently hits a shelf. Pidge hisses and helps him out of the mess. He starts feeling around and finally gets to a shelf and presses a button, making them rotate. That's where there are some spare robotic parts. Pidge raises her brows in surprise at how well Lance is doing on his own. He puts a new eye in and Pidge sighs in relief. She can't like she got a tiny bit attached by the stray puppy that kept following her.
"See? All better!" He said as he winked multiple times. Pidge looked amused but then eyed his lighter collection. She took one and flicks open a Zippo. Ignites a flame. Lance freezes. He had no idea it could do that. Moves closer to inspect it...It's the closest he's ever been to Pidge. She remains focused on the lighter. Lance stares down at her....The tiny flame flickering between them... ...The Hello Dolly video plays IOTAM in the background... Suddenly, he looked at her hand. Maybe....just maybe...He could...He musters the courage to open his fingers...Timidly reaches his hand out to hers...She turns and looks at him, confused. He chokes and immediately pulls his hand back.
"What were you doing?" She asks. Lance chuckles warily.
"What me? Nothing- Pfft- W-What do you mean?" He asked, rubbing his neck, awkwardly. The tiny girl narrowed her eyes. She shrugs and goes over to the TV. She becomes intrigued by the relationship of the two lovers from Hello Dolly. Lance curses himself and hits himself in the forehead with his fist, his infatuation still palpable, until- He remembers something! He rushes to his shelves. Pidge watches him rummage through junk. A tambourine falls down on his head. She giggles, charmed by it all. Yeah...Lance was cute, she had to admit. Something about Lance... She looks back to the lovers on TV...then the lit Zippo lighter in her hand. What was so special about this human?? She guessed that his personality was silly and charming in a weird way--
"Look at this!" Lance said as he pulled out a tiny plant. Her eyes widened.
"LANCE WAIT! DON'T GET IT CLOSER TO ME--" But he was already close. Her scanner activated on it's own.
"NO!" She said and immediately a small emblem on her chest appeared. It looked like a green circle with a leaf on it. Lance's eyes widened as well as the plant was practically sucked like a magnet towards Pidge and suddenly she was back in her capsule.
"PIDGE!" He said worriedly, but she couldn't hear him anymore, she was locked and shut down. Lance circled the capsule.
"Pidge?? PIDGE!" He tried tapping it and opening it by force. Nothing worked.
"PIDGE!!"