trans_9 | No pain... [Open]

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No pain... [Open]

So, the hostages had been rescued successfully and were recovering. The crew members affected by the clock were back to their proper age.

Sherry was back to her proper age. Something which was both a great relief and tremendously heartbreaking at the same time. He was glad she was back to being his little linefacer, but getting a chance to see her when she was so small, during all the years of her life that he hadn't been a part of.

At least he took plenty of pictures.

Though, while a couple of problems were solved, there were still plenty more to deal with. The map; whether or not the GIA set them up at NiSaris; the Ohm; replacing repodded personnel... Though he was taking a break from that now. Or was trying to, at least. Not an easy thing to do with a ton of stuff weighing on his mind.

To help clear his mind, he went down to the City (which reminded him, at some point, he needed suggest to the Council that they actually give the City a name), and at the moment was hanging upside down from a tall fence doing one sit up after another. He wasn't out of shape, still barely having an ounce of fat on him, and by no means rusty, but the rescue mission had made him realize he had been out of the field and behind a desk for too long. Being some distant, hands off executive wasn't his style. And whatever was about to come their way next, he'd need to be at his best to help.

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Sherry didn't regularly have a chance to play hide-and-seek with the other children on the ship (mostly because the great bulk of them annoyed her), but when she had played, she found that her previous experience hiding from monsters had helped. The sound of her father running past almost made her look around the lip of the billboard to make sure he was really gone.

She counted to three after he'd headed past, then carefully removed herself from her hiding spot, climbing down the side of the building and hurrying to her hiding spot near the train station. Unsure which direction Leon had actually gone, Sherry chose to go through the streets diagonally. It would take her a little longer to reach her end goal, but she was confident that he wouldn't be able to get through all the narrow alleys that littered her path.

He hadn't gone far past her, having ducked slightly behind the next building over. The City didn't have the same level of ambient noise as normal cities did, no cars passing by and people having their own conversations to drown out other sounds. So, with a careful bit of listening, he was able to figure out where she had disappeared to and which way she was headed.

And while he might not be able to negotiate all of the narrow alleys, he could get through the streets just fine, and he certainly had a long enough stride that he could make up any difference.

Sherry stopped for a moment, to catch her breath and fit herself in the narrow doorway between an alley and the next street over. It was hard to hear anything over the thundering of her pulse and the short, quick breaths she took.

And it wasn't like Leon would helpfully moan to let her know how close he was, if he was close at all. She turned the knob on the door and ducked inside the building, careful to keep the closure as quiet as possible as she stalked to the other side of the musty-smelling room and looked out the window for any sign of her father.

There wasn't any obvious sign out there. No noises and no one running down the street.

Of course, part of the reason that she couldn't see him was that he was actually on the roof. And while he could just climb down and get through the door to get to her, why use a door where there was a perfectly good skylight right there?

So there was a loud crashing noise as her father decided to drop in on her. Literally.

Sherry screamed and bolted to the door, the momentary panic stopping her from getting the door open fast enough to escape. "Open door, open door, open door..!"

She looked back at Leon, screamed again, and pulled on the door.

Leon counted to five in his head, giving Sherry another small head start, then ran out after her.

Sherry's little legs sprinted down the alley and out into the street. She didn't look behind her - the quick footfalls five seconds after she had started fleeing were more than enough of a hint that Leon was catching up and quickly.

He didn't try to overtake her straight away. Instead he cut through a building on the right, knowing that he could would come out ahead of her and cut her off at the pass.

Wait, where did he go? Sherry pursed her lips as she ran and took a quick left between two buildings, and --

"Oof!"

Right into Leon's chest.

"Gotcha!" He placed his hands on her shoulders to keep her from falling, and to make sure that she didn't run off anywhere else.

"Nooo," Sherry groaned and laughed, looking up at Leon after pushing her bangs out of her face. "I should've gone right," she muttered.

"That leads to a dead end," he pointed out. "You did good, though." Unfortunately your dad happens to be ridiculously awesome and locating and recovering girls.

"Now, about those pictures..."

"But I could've climbed the dead end and ran across the roof," she pointed out and put a hand over her bag. "And these are of me, so I'm going to go hide them."

Because you just didn't know how mortifying and embarrassing having them taken were, Leon. They were like blackmail for the rest of her life!

Which is why he must posses them!

"Not until after I've taken a look at them." He tightened his grip slightly, letting her know that running away again wasn't an option.

Sherry sighed at him then, and pulled the bag over her shoulder and handed it to him with an air of defeat. "I love you, Daddy, but sometimes you suck."

"It's called 'being a loving parent,'" he replied, then opened up the bag. He took a look at some of the pictures, and started smiling, chuckling a bit as he looked through them.

"You wanted to bury these? You look adorable in them!"

"I was also thinking that Kon could eyebeam them." Even her proxy brother had to realize how horrible this all was. "Anything to get them out of existence."

Your little girl is embarrassed, Leon. So very.

"Nooooooo, not happening." He looked through a few more, and even stuffed a couple in his pockets. "We're keeping these. Forever."

"Why would you do that to me?" Sherry replied with a tone that was almost, but not quite, a whine.

"Because one day you will grow up to be an amazing young woman, and I'll want to look at these and remember you when you were cute and little." He mussed up her hair. "Not to mention I'll need blackmail material to get you to do what I want when linefacing at you doesn't work anymore."

"I knew it." Buttering her up with promises of her amazing adulthood hadn't yet swayed Sherry, but she knew that the blackmail material would probably work on her for the next forever.

She could almost hear it now, Clean your room, or I'm posting the taco pictures. Just wait, old man, she would find a nice interplanar nursing home when the time came. One with burly guards and unidentifiable food.

"But I maintain that they're not cute, they're embarrassing, Daddy." She added, trying to fingercomb her long hair back into some semblance of order. She stuck her tongue out at him, "But fine; if you want to keep them, go ahead. Just not on your desk! Or anywhere anyone might actually see them!"

"They're cute," he assured her. Which, at her age, may as well be the same thing as embarrassing.

"And what kind of parent would I be if I didn't have at least one or two of these where everyone can see them?"

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No pain... [Open]

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