The Day Before We Met

Fail to Mention

"You ready, Hannah?" The stage manager asked Hannah as he handed her a microphone. The stage manager and I had a fun time getting to know each other. Please note the sarcasm.

"Yep," Hannah nodded her head. After I told off the worker, Hannah's mood has shifted. She still does what I ask, but she definitely isn't as happy as she was.

"You're good to go on." The stage manager gestured for Hannah to go.

"Am I good to go?" Hannah looked over at me briefly.

I nodded my head. Maybe I crossed the line? Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to jump when people disrespect us. We're machines though. We aren't humans. We're weapons. Maybe it's how she's supposed to look at me. Why do I even care how she looks at me? I've known the woman for just over two hours and I'm questioning my life decisions.

"Coms from Sentinel Ajax."

"Put him through." I frowned as she walked out onto the stage with a frown on her face before getting ready for the curtains to part and a smile resumed on her lips.

"Alex, watch the front of the stage. There is military security there, but none of us can't get there without causing a huge scene. Also, we killed nineteen Marians and each one had some type of gun. They came to do damage to say the least." Ajax seemed to be calmer.

"Okay," I answered in a similar tone to his.

"You okay, Alex?" Ajax sounded genuinely concerned.

"Of course." I answered in a more convincing tone before cutting the coms.

Maybe I just need another injection to get rid of most of my emotions again. All it leaves is rage, anger, and a tiny bit of happiness. It wears off every few months and it's our option to get them, but we're only supposed to if we feel like we are being less productive of missions because of our emotions. Not because a civilian is making you question them.

"How are we doing, Camp Willis?" Hannah smiled as wide as she could and waved to the crowd.

The place erupted in cheers and I continued to look around. I eventually caught a glimpse of Keenan's white and red armor, but I couldn't see the boys.

Hannah went on to perform her three hour long concert, and there was only one blip that Zander ended before anyone saw anything. A blip being a Marian running towards the stage until a bright blue flash tackled him and pulled his head from his neck.

"Are you guys staying with me or is my bodyguard coming back?" Hannah asked us after she got changed into normal clothes instead of her shiny attire for the stage.

"Admiral says we're staying, so we're staying." Ajax answered Hannah.

"Where will you guys be sleeping? There isn't a whole lot of room in my bus and I'm traveling tonight." She looked up at Ajax.

"Well, you have a new bus now, and we don't require much sleep. Fifteen hours a week is all we need, but we can sleep up to a hundred if we know sleep won't be available the next." Ajax shrugged. "We will stay quiet for you to sleep though. Don't worry."

Hannah nodded her head before looking back at me with a look I had never gotten from anyone. I didn't know how to read it, but I think Keenan saw it.

"Coms from Sentinel Keenan." My communications alert went off.

I sighed and closed my eyes for a second. "Put her through."

"Why did she look at you like that? What did you do?" Keenan immediately fired questions.

"I told off her worker and told him that I had killed more beings than he had met in his lifetime and I could kill him and make it look legal if he ever disrespected another Sentinel, and now she looks at me like that." I explained it through our private coms, knowing my speaker system wouldn't project anything I was saying be heard by anyone else.

"You've got to stop with that, Alex. You have a temper issue and you know it." Keenan sighed. "She has a draw to you and I think you saying that shook her to her core."

"I know I have a temper issue. I'll get another injection when we get back to base." I sat down on the floor while we waited for Hannah to gather her things.

"That's the problem. You get those injections to stop from feeling, but you still feel anger. Stop it with the injections. They are taking away your personality and turning you into a machine more and more with each injection. Enough of those." Keenan scolded me. "You have no problems with killing or completing a mission. You just have problems with your emotions outside of mission."

Then Keenan ended the coms.

"I'm ready to go whenever you guys are." Hannah grabbed her bag after packing it and followed Ajax out the door.

Keenan, Zander, and I surrounded her closely and got her onto her bus safely before locking the door.

"This bus is... different." Hannah looked around.

"Your things have been moved to this one. It's bulletproof, goes faster, has things for our gear, and has deployable weapons, but externally looks similar to your old one. This is your new bus." Ajax took his helmet off once we got onto the bus.

"Everyone get settled. I'm driving." Zander kept his helmet and full gear on, and sat down behind the wheel. He keeps full gear on while driving in case something happens. One time someone tried to shoot through the windshield of one of our vehicles and if he wasn't wearing his helmet he'd be dead. No other way to put it.

Ajax and Keenan stepped into the pods that detach our armor for us, and stepped out in the issued sweatpants and t-shirt that they had on this morning a few seconds later.

"I'm changing. These clothes stink." Keenan grabbed some clothes from one of the shelves on the wall.

"You staying in your gear?" Ajax looked at me and sighed with his hands on his hips.

"It's not just us four, so yes." I laid down on the couch and tried to get comfortable in my bulky gear. I don't think I'd fit in a bunk very well in full gear.

"I'm going to bed, so you can take your gear off. I won't see you." Hannah tried to make me feel more comfortable about the situation.

"I'll be okay." I assured her. I can't risk someone seeing my face. Only my team knows what I look like, and I'd like to keep it that way till the day I die. Even then I'd want a closed casket.

Hannah sighed before walking back to the bunks and settling down for the night.

"Why won't you take it off? We will be watching over her for the next few months, so you'll have to take it off eventually." Ajax tried to have an intervention with me once again.

"We're what?" Keenan, Zander, and I asked at the same time.

"Did I fail to mention that we are watching her for the remainder of her tour?" Ajax sucked his lips in.

"We are babysitting for months?" Keenan hissed.

"I heard that!" Hannah yelled from the back of the bus

"Sorry! We mean it in the best way!" Keenan covered her ass by pulling us all into it.

"So as I was saying, you will eventually have to change and shower." Ajax resumed his talk with me while Zander started the bus up.

"Maybe in a few days." I ignored him and rested my head on the pillow behind me.

"You won't be able to sleep well in your gear." Keenan pointed out.

"I have slept in my gear numerous times. I will manage." I ignored them and got as comfortable as I could. This is going to be fun.