Holmcross Project (Year 1)

Chapter 3: Strike

"So, what're we going to do, Nils?" Wesson asked the next day, trailing behind him as they walked through Adlehyde. "I'm bored, let's go shoot stuff at the range!"

"I need to get materials to replace the ones I lost. You know, the ones you blew up?" Nils shot him a look. "I don't care what you do. You can go do that if you want." He walked into the castle.

"Aw, you still on that?" Wesson asked as he followed him. "I said it was an accident!"

"Accidents got Colt and Springfield suspended, remember? And one in the lab can get us killed!" Nils reminded him. "Why are you still following me?" He turned and walked down a hall. "Go find Ben, or Jai, or Lu. Go bother someone else."

"Nooo, they're boring and mean!" Wesson wailed, following him down the hall and into a room. "I wanna spend time with my brother!"

"What brother? I'm not your brother! We're ALL your brothers!" Nils sighed, walking through the room with a desk and entering the armory. "Why me in particular?"

"You understand me." Wesson said, walking in after him and looking around. "So many ARMs...I wonder if they had this many before we were made. Hey, Nils, what does ARM stand for again?"

Nils looked at him with a "really" look and shook his head. "How could you forget that? It's covered in basic training!"

"Well, I forgot! Meanings of names don't really matter as much as the thing itself!" Wesson pouted.

"Alright, fine. But you better listen this time." Nils picked up one of the weapons on the wall. "A.R.M., better known as ARM, stands for 'Artificially Rebirthed Matricide Machine'. Most people cut out the last M though with abbreviating, since A.R.M.M. would be ARMM." He made an "mm" sound when he finished the word, which made Wesson giggle. "See? Not very impressive, is it?"

"True. Okay, so what does matricide mean? Is it a tech word for something?" Wesson asked, looking over his own revolver.

"No. You need to look in the dictionary, kid." Nils sighed. "I will NOT be your walking encyclopedia all the time. 'Matricide' is the act of killing a mother, and the Demons' leader is...?"

"Oh! The Mother!" Wesson pounded the side of his fist into his palm pointed up. "I understand now! Thanks, Nils! You know a lot!"

"Mmhm. Hm, they don't seem to have what I need here. I'll check the other room." Nils walked out, Wesson following.

"So, how come you don't use an ARM like the rest of us, Nils?" Wesson asked.

"I do, sometimes. My rocket launcher. And, anyways, bombs are easier to move around with, so I throw grenades and plant mines. They don't usually put me in live combat zones anyway, unless they need extra hands like that last mission." Nils entered another room and began to rifle through a large box, half his body sticking out.

"Hm..." Wesson looked thoughtful, and then he grinned and pushed Nils' legs in, ("WHA?!") and shut the lid. Then he stood back giggling, his giggles slowly turning to nervous chuckles as the lid opened with Nils looking murderous. "Uhhh..."

"I'm gonna KILL YOU!" Nils jumped out. Wesson was already out the door when he landed. "Get back here, you little—agh!" He wiped smoke out of his face and scowled. "Oh, he did NOT just steal my smoke-bombs." He stalked after him.

"U-uh oh!" Wesson dashed past a few people in the hall and went up the stairs, throwing another smoke bomb behind him to slow Nils down. "Sorry!"

"If you're sorry, then stay still so I can kill you!" Nils yelled, running up the stairs after him.

Outside on the roof, a large, stoic man was standing and watching the city, the wind blowing by him. Luger stood next to him, enjoying the view as well, and then he looked over as they heard yelling. "Oh, dear. Sounds like we need to cool something down again."