Metempsychotic

Calling

It was early- way too early for Vent's liking.

A few days ago, Girouette had asked Vent to come with him for a delivery. It was something special, so Vent had been told. Something so special that he wasn't even allowed to know what the package was, but there was going to be a rendezvous point, and the folks picking up were called the 'Guardians'. Not that it completely mattered to him; getting the news had been like winning the lottery for the boy -due to a previous ban preventing him from directly coming to exchanges- but he never would have thought that they were doing it this early in the morning. The sky was just now starting to turn blue from a gorgeous pink sunrise. Unfortunately, the boy cared for none of it as patience was not a virtue on his side, nor was a mystery that his caretaker and boss refused to disclose with him.

"Park your bike here." Giro informed Vent once they had reached a point on a high cliff far from the city.

"Only if you tell me what we're doing here." Vent challenged, feeling quite tired and angry that Giro had kept the secret for this long. Giro turned to give Vent a hard stare, and was about to say something before his thoughts were interrupted with the sound of a buzzer. Still giving Vent a rather heated glare, Giro pressed and held onto a button on the white headset that covered his ears.

"Thank you for calling Giro Express!" Giro said in a rehearsed tone with a phrase well known, "We can take anything, anywhere! This is Girouette speaking, what can I transport for you today?"

"A pillow and blanket to sleep on would be nice." Vent groaned as he turned around. "Dunno who would call at this stupid hour. Must be Reploid... they never sleep..."

Perfectly ignoring the glare Giro was giving him, Vent looked out to the valley surrounding them. The view the cliff gave them was almost breathtaking, and it served to be the ideal spot to take a picture perfect outline of the city. The highlight would have been the Serpent Inc building, which proved to be twice as large as the average skyscraper but far more grand. Looking around at the landscape made Vent remember someone who went missing.

It had been another member of Giro Express, and a rather long member at that. Her name had been Juno, and Vent loved her. At least, he loved her the same way you would love your own mother. He had always been told that she was the only one that could calm him when he was a baby. And that one time when he ran away because he thought Giro was overworking him, Juno was the one who just let him chill with her even though she was on vacation. He didn't like telling anyone, but Vent also kinda shipped Giro and Juno together. He didn't know why, but it just seemed right.

"Well that's just perfect. They decided to meet somewhere else instead, as if this week couldn't get any better..." Giro mumbled as he finished the phone call. "Vent, are you ready to leave? We need to move out as soon as possible."

The boy did not answer his superior directly, and instead continued to look out at the city skyline.
"Vent!" Giro snapped, "Can you hear me!?"

Again, Girouette was answered with silence. With a deep sigh, Giro joined Vent in staring out to the city with heavy thoughts.

"You can see the Slither Inc building from here." Giro remarked in a rather unimpressed tone. "They've been working rather tirelessly for this country for the past several years. And here we are, without a camera..."

Vent shifted just a tiny bit. "Giro...?" the boy then asked in a small tone.

"Yes?"

"Where do you think Juno went?"

"What does Juno have to do with anything?" Giro unintentionally snapped. "We have a client waiting for us and a package to deliver. If we're late again for another meeting, so help me Vent you will never be allowed to-"

"Who are these stupid Guardians we took the job from any way? And what makes that dumb package so special?" Vent shot back, so tired that he didn't bother to choose his words carefully. Not that he ever did, really. Besides, Giro wasn't usually this impatient about deliveries... "And why are you more concerned about its safety than the whereabouts of my mo-... of... of our friend."

Something in Girouette's eyes slowly started to dim before he took a rather heavy sigh. "The Guardians are a defense force that banded together to help fight the Mavericks. Right now, they're even moving place to place to investigate the root of the outbreaks. As for the package..."

"The package you keep replacing Juno with..." Vent grumbled bitterly.

"Try not to ask too many questions." Girouette finished passively. "I'm sure it's very important to the Guardians and just as dangerous. I think it's better that we don't know about it."

"Sure it is." Vent defiantly muttered under his breath.

"Come on." Girouette then offered. "The faster we can get this done, the faster we can start a search party for our friend. Who knows, maybe by the time we get back, she'll be waiting for us back at home. We'll never know until we get a move on; so, does that sound like a deal to you?"

Vent looked up at his caretaker and boss with a renewed sense of hope.

"I get to lead this time!" Vent declared as he raced to their motorbikes. Smiling to himself, Giro shook his head and followed Vent, who was now on the bike ready to take off.

"Are you going to lead us into a tree again?" Girouette teased. For a moment, Vent paused before putting on a rather cheesy expression in preparation to retort, but he was cut short by three energy rounds from a buster. One of the rounds hit Giro's bike, another just barely grazing the top of Vent's head.

In the distance, Vent could barely make out the figure of something feminine, but at the same time mechanical, while two other figures advanced toward him with rigid (yet oddly pretty quick) movement. He subconsciously decided to completely ignore the front soldiers, and remained focused on that female figure.

"Who is...?" Vent started to muse before another buster round was aimed almost directly at him- without him even noticing how close Girouette was, his caretaker had scooped him off and behind Vent's bike for cover. The buster round continued its path, hitting a lone, already gnarled, tree. Vent's mind kept reeling onto the female figure that he was almost desensitized to what was going on around him.

"Those would be Mavericks." Girouette quickly told the boy. "But how did they get here?"

In a sort of answer, the Mavericks fired more rounds at the bikes, causing Giro's to start smoking. Suddenly, Girouette was hit with an idea.

"They're after the package...!" he realized, sounding as if he were only talking to himself before jumping over Vent's bike to get behind his own. Vent, forgetting the situation for a moment, stood up to figure out what Giro was doing. It was then that one of the Mavericks were able to connect several rounds to the tank of Vent's bike; the results were almost instant, causing an explosion to knock Vent off his feet and over the cliff.

"Vent!" Girouette's panicked voice rang out as Vent felt himself fall. The descent itself didn't feel long, but it also seemed to go on forever, with the ground greeting the boy with a sickening thud. Dizzy, and possibly sick to his stomach, Vent's world dimmed to black with only a few senses still in work. If he felt pain, it was currently being dimmed by the adrenaline driven confusion he now had. Some where, at the back of his mind, he could hear the voice of someone almost too familiar.

Did you see... Rush... I think someone is... come on Rush we need to... in... come on Rush, I think it's... I can feel... I can... wait, can you... do you have... Rush!!

His senses were now slowly leaving him too, and in a last act of coherency Vent muttered a single name before completely giving in to drift into a short, dreamless slumber.

I'm coming Prea! I'm coming!!