trans_9 | A Wicked Shadow [open]

Samus had some repairs to do on her Gunship. Toolbox in hand, she opened the door to the hangar expecting it to be empty. She weaves through the lines of ships and passes something interesting on the way. Was that huge thing here before?

The huge thing does not move, but the sense of watching intensifies. Samus can probably make out a strangely saurian outline in the unlit bay, slightly blocky and forty feet tall.

It rumbles at her.

A little noise comes from on top of one of the the thing's feet.

Vega opens his eyes.

"Wha-?"

He blinks and rubs them.

"Stacy, lights!"

The bay the Fury's in lights up obediently. There's the culprit, Samus. Vega's sitting on top of the Fury's right foot, rubbing his face. He was sleeping.

"Oh, hey," he says.

"..." That was unexpected. She eyes the rumbling mecha a bit warily, "Hi."

"Oh, don't listen to him, he's just cranky because he missed me," says Vega, thumping the Fury's toe.

He's clearly not worried by it at all.

Her eyes flick between Vega and the giant raging thing he's sitting on, "Missed you?"

"Yeah!" He nods.

"He's an Ultimate X. They're really smart. I'm his pilot, so he missed me."

Pilot? "How old are you?"

Vega eyes her a little more warily. "Eleven," he admits, preparing all his old evasive excuses for if she asks further. He's used to being able to go duck behind another Backdraft member to avoid questioning.

She's still taking a few cautious looks at the Fury. "You must be a talented pilot."

Well, that was unexpected. He straightens a little bit and smiles. "Yep! They call me The King, because I'm the best."

Samus nods, she guessed as much (after all, no one lets an inexperienced eleven year old pilot). "I'm a pilot as well, I was just heading over to my own ship."

She totally wasn't making small talk to keeping eyeing the Fury, nope.

"Ship?" Vega asks. "Like a space ship?"

It's not as cool as a Zoid, Samus. But he's curious!

Nanoha's busy familiarizing herself with the new parts of the ship that they have access to - she may as well see if there's anything she recognizes in the cavernous hangar bay, right?

Sadly, no. There wasn't anything she recognized ... but she did see the large, dark silhouette with the glowing red eyes, and while everything down here was machinery, something pinged her instincts to be on guard anyway. "...hello?" She called out. "Is somebody there?"

There is!

Vega hears her and stirs... then he wakes up a little more and sits upright. He's sitting on top of the Zoid's right foot now.

He looks out, squinting. It's brighter outside than it is in here! "Lights?" he asks. They come on in the Fury's bay, making Vega wince, but he can see Nanoha now.

"Hi," he says, suppressing a yawn.

The Fury is silent and unmoving, but it has a presence.

Yes, yes it does. But Nanoha's capable of ignoring it for the time being. "Ah, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to wake anyone up," she says, a sheepish expression on her face.

"Oh, it's okay," Vega replies. He half slides, half jumps down off the Fury's foot (bending his knees like he's been taught to take the impact, though Sarah would've scolded him for jumping off something anyway) and pulls his pilot's jacket back on. He'd been using it as a pillow.

"I'm Vega," he says. "I don't think I've met you."

She smiles. "I'm Nanoha. It's nice to meet you, Vega!" Her gaze turns upward to the Fury. "Is this a friend of yours?"

"Nice to meet you too."

To her question, he nods and crans his own neck back to look up at the Fury with clear appreciation.

"Yeah, this is my Zoid," he replies. "I knew Stacy had him! I just couldn't get to him."

Nanoha tilts her head to the side. "Hello, Mr. Zoid. It's nice to meet you, too."

But then she frowns as her gaze returns down to Vega. "...were you sleeping here?" Congratulations Vega, you have successfully triggered Nanoha's Motherly Concern.

The Fury doesn't respond, but... it's the Fury.

"I was," says Vega. "Fury missed me a whole lot and I can't lay down in the cockpit. Besides, I always wanted to do that but they'd never let me!"

It really wasn't all that comfortable, but he's not gonna admit that.

She didn't actually expect it too, but then again, she's known her share of intelligent weaponry, so it was worth a try.

"If you don't have somewhere else to sleep, I'm sure we can find you something," Nanoha says with a smile that doesn't betray her concern. "I'm sure that Fury is glad to see you, but he'd probably want you to get a good night's sleep too, don't you think?" She walks a bit closer to the foot of the Zoid. "Besides, you can spend all the time you want here during the day."

Vega sighs, pouting a little. He'd argue, but it seems it would be kind of like arguing with Sarah. That never works.

"Well, I guess," he admits reluctantly. "I just haven't seen him in forever."

A thought hits him. he brightens.

"I still have to tell my friends!"

Nanoha leans down a bit so that she's face level with him (she doesn't have to lean down far, she's not very tall) and grins brightly. "That's the spirit! I'm sure they'll all be glad to have you introduce them to Fury, too!"

"Okay." Vega really likes this idea. "They've never even seen a Zoid before, you know? It's really weird."

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