Aurore

2- A Place to Belong

A Place to Belong
When we arrived at Base, the first thing Sabrina asked me was "Where are we?"
"Butte, Montana." I told her.
Her eyes widened. "We walked all the way to Butte? Billings is quite a ways from here!"
I nodded and smiled. "Yes. Isn't that what you wanted?"
She nodded and touched the bruise on her face, as if to remember the pain.
I put my hand on her shoulder. "Come on. Let's go inside." She nodded.
The place was secluded, and there was no building. The entire base was underground, only to be detected by a certain rock. I grabbed the boulder and puffed as I worked to move it. When I moved it, a pole went down the middle of the hole that stood there. I gestured to it, but she looked at me like I was crazy.
"Like a firefighter." I said.
"What?" she asked.
"You slide down the pole like a firefighter. You go first, then I'll go after you."
She glared at me, but sat down and scooted to the edge of the hole so her legs hung into the darkness. She looked at me, in doubt, but then put her hands on the pole and slid down into the darkness. I smiled and yelled "Wooooeeeee!" before jumping into the darkness, not even bothering to grab the pole. As I fell through the darkness, I giggled to myself and looked up at the light of day as it slowly disappeared when the rock moved back over it. When I felt the cold air of the bottom floor of the facility, I grabbed the pole and waited for impact. When I landed on the huge net, I looked around for Sabrina.
"Hey Jason, is she with you?" the guard on duty, Andrew, asked.
"Yeah, this is Sabrina. Just, leave her be, okay guys? I'll take care of everything concerning her, including training, free time, and anything else. So just leave her alone." I said, knowing how the guys liked to try and be the new girls' advisors.
He nodded and stepped back.
"General Aiken has been waiting for you to come back." Andrew mentioned.
"Okay." I smiled.
"Yea. But have fun with your new recruit! That'll make him happy!" Andrew winked at Sabrina and went back to his post.
"Sorry about him." I said. "He thinks he's a ladies man, like most of the guys in this facility. But he really is nice when you get to know him."
She nodded and smiled.
"Come on." I grabbed her hand and took her to the elevator and took her to the 20th floor.
We walked down the hall until the end. I knocked on the door in a pattern: tap... tap... tap tap tap tap
"Come in." A low voice said.
I looked at her and breathed out as I turned the doorknob. I gestured for her to wait a moment, then waved her in.
"Agent Boneck." the man in the chair  said.
Immediately, I stood up straight and put my hand to my forehead.
"Yes, sir!" I said.
"As you were." he said kindly.
I put my hands behind me, then touched Sabrina's arm.
"This is Sabrina, the new recruit." I informed him. He stood up, Towering over her, just like I did.
General Aiken was a friendly man. He'd been General of the Montana Agensie since before I'd been recruited, and he formed relationships with many of the agents. He was in his mid-thirties, tall with medium skin and blond hair.
He walked in front of Sabrina and smiled. "What's your last name, Sabrina?"
"Halliday." She answered.
"Well, Agent Halliday, it's nice to meet you. "
She smiled at him. "Thanks. Nice to meet you too."
He walked to his desk and pulled out his pipe.
"I hope you two don't mind me smoking my pipe! I just can't seem to quit.  Besides, it's better than alcohol!" He laughed heartily.
"Have you shown her around, Jason?" he asked as he lit his pipe.
"No, sir." I replied.
"What does she know?"
"Not much, sire. Actually, well, nothing, sir. All she knows is what she has seen."
He nodded.
"Fill her in. Give her a tracker and ID. Enroll her in basic training. She's now rank 1. You'll be her supervisor, Agent Boneck, your first full time."
I instantly felt excitement. "Full time, sir? You mean I get to be her trainer and supervise and be in control of all her missions?" I said, barely able to contain myself.
He nodded. "Yes. Oh yea," he reached into his desk to pull out a paper, "Bring this to Dressing Quarters and get your new color. You're now Rank 10."
I took the paper in awe. Rank 11 was the highest possible rank and I was one of the three Rank 10's in the entire KLA, and the only one in the Montana base. Rank 11 was basically a general, except under 18 and had many rights. No one had ever gotten to be Rank 11.
"Sir yes sir!" I said and turned to the door. "Come along, Agent Halliday."
When we left the room I jumped in the air.
"I'm rank 10! Yea!" I exclaimed.
"I don't know what that means, Jason." she said.
I smiled. "I'll explain after we go to the Dressing Quarters. I need my new uniform and color and you need both of those!"
She nodded and followed me to the elevator, where we stepped onto it as soon as it opened. The doors were almost closed when someone grabbed it and reopened it. Kyle stepped into the elevator with a girl I didn't recognize.
"Hey, Jason! You're back!" he exclaimed and smacked me on the back, then took the paper out of my hand and read it. As he chewed what I assumed to be jerky, he said, "Who's your friend?" whilst reading the paper.
Before I could answer, he shoved the paper into my chest and shouted, "Yes! Rank 10! That's a huge honor, buddy!"
I smiled and laughed. "Yea it is!"
The girl, a tall blond with dark eyes, said, "That's great Jason." I smiled and nodded, not even knowing her name.
"This is Sabrina." I said as I folded the paper. " My new recruit and my first full time."
I turned to Sabrina. "This is Kyle, my brother."
She smiled and shook his hand.
"Oh, and who's this?" Sabrina asked me.
"Uh...this is...uh..." I began, but Kyle stepped in for me.
"This is Diamond. The love of my life." he said as he grabbed her hand.
"Nice to meet you." Sabrina said politely.
I pulled her to the side of the elevator and turned her so she wasn't facing Kyle or Diamond.
"Just so you know, every girl is the love of his life. My brother has been through some hard times... he doesn't believe in love. So next week, you'll probably see him with another girl." I glanced over her shoulder to see him kissing her.
"You guys don't seem anything alike."' she whispered.
I shook my head. "Of course not. We weren't raised together. We found each other through this place."
"Wait." Sabrina stopped me, "You didn't know him before? Why'd your parents give him up?" she asked.
It felt like a knife in my heart. It made me remember that they didn't love me enough to keep me.
"They didn't." I said quietly.
"I don't understand."
"They gave me up. They kept Kyle but gave me up." I said a little louder.
Kyle stopped and turned towards me, knowing of the pain that I was overcome with.
"Jason, I'm sorry-" she began, but I interrupted, not wanting to make a scene in front of my big brother.
"Its fine, okay? Just forget it." I turned away from her and faced the elevator wall. Wiping a tear from my eye, I turned around when the elevator doors opened.
I gestured for Sabrina to go in front of me.
Kyle put a hand on my shoulder. "I love you bro." I smiled weakly and nodded before stepping out with Sabrina. Just before the doors shut again, I saw Diamond and Kyle kissing once again.
"This is Floor 13." I said. "Here is everything to do with specific ranks. Clothing, badges, gear, you name it."
She nodded.
"In training, you'll learn the acronym BBGWROYGBAT. It means Brown, black, grey, white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, auburn, teal. Rank 1 starts with brown and each rank has its own color.  you'll be known by what color you wear. You're issued clothes and all of them are brown."
I turned to the guard on duty, Asher. "Hey I've got a new recruit and I need a clothing change."
I handed him the paper. He smiled, "Hey, Jase! That's great! I knew you'd get to the top!"
"Thanks Ash."
He nodded to Sabrina and swiped his card. The door opened and we walked into the chamber. The door closed behind us.
"Okay..." I said, trying to remember where the browns were. "Ah!" I remembered.
"Everyone seems to know you." Sabrina mentioned.
"Yea. I'm one of the longest standing members of the Agensie KLA. I've been here since I was 6. Nine whole years."
"Okay." Sabrina said. "I can't stand it anymore! What the heck is the 'Agensie KLA'?"
"Kid's Liberation Army. We call it the Agensie. With an ie, not a y. Basically, we are a kid's army. Its an army of kids. We don't fight overseas, but we do more local battles. With terrorists, and the like. We aren't a huge army because a lot of the kids die fighting."
"What about the kids parents?" she asked.
"The Agensie takes in kids nobody wants. Orphans, abandoned, abused, or even parents who don't care. It makes a home for us when no one else would. It gives us a place to belong. General Aiken has been in command as long as I've been here. We've always been friends. "
"So, how do you guys fight? Go to boot camp?" she joked.
"Nope." I answered casually. "Training. You wake up early every morning and train hard. Brutally hard, until night. Then you go to bed and it starts all over. When you get out of training, life here is a lot funner. We hang around all day. We have between 2 and 3 hours of workout every day, depending on our recent exams, where they examine our skills. We have about 3 hours of schoolwork each day, and we do that also based on test scores. We have leisure time and sometimes we go out on calls. Training is the worst part."
She shrugged. "A place to belong." she said wishfully.
"Yea. You belong here now."
I grabbed a box off of the shelf.
"Here's your clothes. Later, I'll show you where we can wash our clothes." I handed the box to her and walked to where the auburn colored clothes were.
"So your training uniform is black with brown seams and designs." I informed her as I took my box off the shelf. "I don't know if I was correct, but I think I got the right size. Once you get your new clothes on, you can tell me if I need to get smaller or larger size. I'm usually pretty good, though."
She nodded.
"Okay. I have my clothes and you have yours, so I'll show you where the living quarters are. There's six floors of living quarters: Three girls and three boys. The first floor for both genders is ages 1-6, the second is 7-13, and the third is 14-18. you'll be on the third. Girls begin on the second floor, and your room will be on the fourth."
"What will yours be on?" She asked me.
"The seventh."
She nodded.
"Okay. Now let's get your ID and tracker and enroll you. Its on the first floor, where we first were after riding the entrance."
    "Okay." I told her. "You just put your arm in here and it gives you a tracker. You might feel a little prick.."
I felt bad lying to her, but from experience, it was the only way to get recruits to actually put their arm in. She nodded and put her arm in. I pressed the button and watched as it counted down from five. I glanced at Andrew, who was on her other side. When it reached one, We both grabbed her arm and held it in the tube while bracing her back so she couldn't back up.
"What are you-" she began, but was interrupted by the tracker being put in.
"Ah!" she yelled. I remembered my six year old self getting a tracker. Worst experience ever.
The tracker was a 1 inch wide disc that was inserted into your arm. It hurt because the inserter essentially took a piece of skin out, inserted the tracker, and sewed the skin back on.
She struggled against our grip, but we held her tight. When the green light came on, we released her.
"That hurt...." she said.
"Im sorry. " I said. "You had to have your tracker."
She glared at me, but then asked, "What's next? Something less painful?"
I nodded. "Yea. Im taking you to Floor 18 to get your physical and then you'll get your ID. Then you can see your room and meet your roommate."
She nodded.
"Let's go."
When we reached floor 18, I swiped my key card and allowed Sabrina to walk into the area before me.
"This is the service floor. You'll find all services here. Medical, Books, Movies, and even jobs if you get really bored with your life."
I weaved through the many small shops until I found the medical service.
"It's like a mini mall." She remarked.
"Yep." I walked up the the woman at the front desk.
"Hi Mrs. Fuller. This new recruit needs a physical."
"Name?" the old woman asked.
"Agent Halliday."
"Come on in." she told Sabrina.
Sabrina went into the doctor's office and I waited outside.
I had been waiting about 20 minutes when she left the office.
"All good?" She nodded and handed me a slip.
"She said this is my ID number."
"6329240" I read aloud, "Memorize this and dont forget it. You'll need it."
We got on the elevators once again. I preferred to use the stairs, but new recruits usually couldn't run up 10 flights of stairs, so I refrained from taking that route.
We went to floor 7 first. I found the number 15 door and opened it with my keys.
"Is this your room?" She asked me.
"Yea. I share with Andrew, the kid you met down on the first floor."
"Not with Kyle?" she asked.
"No. He's too... free spirited for me. He doesn't take this whole thing seriously. He doesn't care about training or anything like that. And he brings friends home at all hours of the night, and its really hard to sleep. I used to share with him, but when Andrew came and we became friends, I moved so we were roommates."
"Did you recruit him too?" I nodded and opened the door.
"Excuse the mess." I said.
I picked up the two boxes that had been delivered to my room and handed her one. "Here's your clothes. You can change in the bathroom. It's just around the corner."
She went into the bathroom. I silently changed in the bedroom, feeling excitement as I pulled my auburn colored shirt over my head.
She came out of the bathroom just as I pulled my pants on.
"How do I look?" she asked.
I almost blurted out "beautiful," but I stopped myself.
"Like a new recruit ready for training!" I said instead.
"Do you know how to braid your hair?" I asked her.
She shrugged.
"Okay, well, for training, girls have to have their hair braided. I can braid your hair today, and your roommate will teach you how tonight so you can do it."
"You know how to braid hair?" she teased.
"Yea, one of the younger girls, she's rank 3 right now, I recruited her and she couldn't braid her own hair. She comes to my room every morning and has me braid it."
"How old is she?"
"She came when she was 6, like me. She's 8 now. Almost 9."
"Like a little sister."
"Yea. She's a sweet girl. Her name is Willow. I recruited her when I watched her parents killed in a terrorist attack."
I finished braiding her hair and pulled a hairband off of my wrist and swung the braid around so it was over her shoulder.
"There you go. Now, do you want me to show you your room?"
She shook her head and said, "I want to find it."
I nodded. "You still have that cell I gave you last night?"
She nodded. "That's your Agensie issued cell phone. I'm still on speed dial." I winked at her.
"Thanks Jason." she said quietly.
"Of course." I said softly. "Be ready tomorrow morning at 5 am. I'll be knocking on your door at 5:10 for training." she nodded and left.
I couldn't wait for the next day.