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As Kairi walked into the communal dining-room-slash-kitchen, she was met with a tornado of Portuguese curses and fury grabbing a bottle of water, followed by the slamming of a door. Raising an eyebrow, she scanned the faces of the other people sitting at the various tables while offering them a mumbled: “Mornin’.” Wraith seemed to be trying to drown out Elliott’s early-morning jokes, while Makoa was making coffee for the entire group. Ajay shrugged at her.
“Dunno what’s gotten into that one. She didn’t even wanna yell at the simulacrum today. I’d tell Anita to go after her, but she’s off doing some press event with Hound,” the medic explained.
“I’ll go check on her, I suppose,” Kairi decided. “Toss me two granola bars, would you?” Catching the plastic packages in one hand, she tore one open. The taste of chemically-processed raspberries did little to wake her up, but it was better than nothing.
Leaving the breakfast gathering behind her, Kairi walked out towards the sleeping quarters, but the light above Loba’s room was turned off. Great; that probably meant she had gone outside, into Olympus. Kairi wasn’t really looking forward to having to search the city for the Brazilian thief, but they were scheduled to squad up tomorrow morning, and she wanted to get some training in today. Sighing, she turned the corner and entered her own room, grabbing her modified Northstar and quickly strapping herself in. It would be much easier to locate the missing woman from the sky, after all.
The morning sun was still rising over Olympus, casting the entire city in a soft golden glow. Kairi scanned her surroundings, but so far, everything seemed abandoned. That wasn’t strange; with the games taking place in the desolate city, even the last stragglers who refused to leave their six-figure vacation retreats behind had been escorted to other, more populated settlements. Just as she was about to turn around and go back ‘home’, her HUD pinged once. A small triangle appeared within her field of view. Approaching the marker, she breathed a quiet sigh of relief when she saw a familiar staff firmly planted into the roof of the large Hammond Labs building. From the looks of the spattering of holes around it, it had been jammed into the surface a few times before Loba had determined it was in the right spot. There was no way for Kairi to land stealthily, so she decided instead to touch down on the far end of the roof. Walking over to the staff, she spotted the fugitive thief sitting against a vertical section of the architectural eyesore, her arms wrapped around her knees. Instead of her Games uniform she so often wore, she was dressed in a simple tee and jeans.
“Hey,” Kairi greeted her, tossing her the second granola bar. “Imahara Breakfast Services. We deliver.” Loba offered her a humourless chuckle in return.
“And to what do I owe this pleasure?” she snapped, but opened the plastic wrapper nonetheless.
“I’ve always learnt you’re safest in the eye of the storm,” Kairi responded, sitting down next to Loba. “So. What’s up?”
"Why would anything be 'up'?" Loba asked. She took the tiniest bite of the cereal bar and immediately made a face. "What the…"
"I never said we delivered a good breakfast," Kairi joked. She sighed. "Look, I understand if you'd rather not talk about whatever's eating you with me specifically, but at least find someone to talk to? I mean, Anita should be on her way back within an hour or so and--" Loba held up a hand to interrupt her, and took a deep, shaky breath.
"Twenty-five years," she spoke quietly. Kairi patiently waited for her to elaborate, if she wanted to. Loba was silent for what seemed like hours, before she added: "It's been twenty-five years since that damn demônio killed my parents and ruined. My. Life." She pulled her bracelet off of her wrist and fidgeted with it, twirling it through her hands.
"Shit--" Kairi began.
"Don't say you're sorry. Everyone's always sorry, but it doesn't get you anywhere." Loba scoffed, tossing the jewellery two feet in front of them. Within a few seconds, she had translocated. Kairi remained where she was seated, now craning her neck to look up at her.
"I wasn't going to," she replied calmly. "I was going to ask if you wanted to fly."
"Fly?" Loba repeated curiously.
"Fly. In the air." With me , Kairi mentally added. Clicking her tongue, Loba hummed.
"And why would I want to do that?"
"Because that demon of yours makes you feel powerless, and nothing makes me feel more powerful than having the world at my feet." Loba tilted her head to one side, staring at Kairi for a moment.
"Alright." A small smile broke through her scowl. "Let's fly."
Loba was uncharacteristically silent as Kairi helped strap her into the Northstar's tether.
"You don't have your jump kit, so I'm going to give you a secondary line. You might want to hold onto me for extra security though," Kairi commented quietly, grabbing the second tether and using it as an emergency connection.
"I trust you," Loba replied. Kairi nodded at her, ignoring the slight flutter she felt in her abdomen at the other woman's statement. She checked her sensors and her display -- good to go.
"Alert five: Valkyrie on deck, ready for burn," she announced to no-one in particular. Glancing over at Loba, she asked: "Ready?" Loba nodded, coming to stand in front of her and placing both hands on Kairi's shoulders. Kairi absentmindedly noted internally that, without her heels, Loba was quite a bit shorter than she was.
"Ready."
"Go for burn." At the feeling of her engine starting the takeoff burn, a familiar rush of adrenalin made its way through Kairi's body. “Hold on tight,” she warned just in time, both of their feet already losing contact with the ground. "Liftoff,” Kairi confirmed. She felt Loba’s hands gripping her shoulders with what was probably more force than technically necessary, but it was fine. They quickly rose above Hammond Labs, the air becoming thinner with every second. "Deep breaths," she reminded the woman tethered to her -- and herself. Glancing down, she saw that Loba had closed her eyes. "You still with me, Loba?"
"Yeah. I'm here." Loba's eyes fluttered open. "Just...thinking."
"Penny for your thoughts?" Kairi asked, carefully steering them away from the Labs and into the direction of Bonsai Plaza.
"I don't get out of bed for anything less than diamonds," Loba replied. When Kairi didn't laugh, she sighed and added: "That it's not fair."
"What isn't?" The tall towers of the Reverie Lounge started to appear at the horizon, and Kairi set her Northstar to fly level.
"That he gets to destroy lives and get away with it. That he gets to murder a little girl's parents in front of her face and walk free. That he…" She grunted in frustration. "Just everything about that filho da puta ."
"Ah. Yeah. That isn't fair." Kairi huffed. "It helps to scream, sometimes." Loba suddenly looked up at her.
"I'm not going to scream."
"It helps, though," Kairi responded, shrugging as much as her gear would let her. "It's not like there's anyone here to hear you." The Reverie Lounge was beneath them now, and she carefully lowered them until they landed on the highest part of the roof. "So why not? Scream." Loba shook her head.
"I'm not going to scream, Ky. I'm not a child."
"Not anymore, maybe," Kairi replied. "But that hurt little girl inside of you sure is. That little girl who just wants her parents back--"
"Stop," Loba warned, worrying her own bottom lip between her teeth.
"--who just wants her dad to tell her it'll be okay--"
"Kairi, I'm warning you," Loba protested again, a slight tremor in her voice.
"--who just wants her mom--"
"STOP!" Loba screamed at the top of her lungs. "Stop it!" Kairi reacted just fast enough to catch Loba's right fist heading for her abdomen, softening the impact with an open palm. Loba attempted to hit her again, now with her left hand, and Kairi caught her other hand as well. She loosely took hold of Loba's wrists as the woman's grunts of effort and protest gradually turned into soundless sobbing. Kairi slowly let go of Loba, instead, she gently pulled her into her arms. Loba's arms encircled Kairi's waist, crying quietly against her chest. Kairi just stood there, holding her, breathing calmly and deeply, and waiting.
"...thanks." Loba had finally calmed down, though she was still a bit shaky on her feet. "This...helped. I think." She yawned. Kairi smiled down at her and kissed her forehead.
"Good." She looked at her watch. The day had only just begun, so training could wait. "Want to go back, watch a bad movie or something?"
For the first time that morning, Loba genuinely smiled.
"I'd like that."