Chapter 17 The retired psychologist looked up at his pupil. “Now take me now!” shouted the Kidd. In an instant four feet tall mutant penguins surrounded the Kidd. “Traitor!” Matt senior cried. The psychologist grabbed the sword from his back. The blade ran along his sheath. His sword was lightweight and well built. There was no cross-guard on the sword nor did the psychologist need it. As for the hilt it was long and sensibly made for excellent gripping. The blade its self had a very slight curve. Matt senior glanced at the considerable amount of penguins; his eyes turned completely white and he disappeared. ****************** Erin, Nick, and Hannahoko walked into an enormous room. The walls were completely covered with weapons and armors of all sorts, and the room was filled with tables hidden under more weapon and armory. On one section of the wall Nick observed knives and daggers that the Kidd would envy. He noted Persian daggers of the finest crafting and farther down he spotted Italian rapiers with basket handles and some with cup handles. On one table he saw what he presumed to be elfin crafted. Hannahoko walked to a table packed high with her very own weapons and armor. She put on a pair of gloves that were thin and soft to the touch. A real fighter would think that these gloves would be next to useless in battle, because they would never protect the hands from real harm. However, the gloves were quite old and neither one held a scratch. Next she placed a leather belt around her thin waist. She connected a sheath to the belt and slid a sword down into it. The boots she was wearing were replaced with new ones ideal for riding. They reached to her knees and were narrow toed to fit in and out of the stirrup quickly. Next she lifted a cloak from the table. It was white and surprisingly light. She wrapped it around her shoulders and clasped it together. Finally she grabbed a wooden staff. The wood was crooked and appeared to be split and broken at the top. "Wow," said Nick, "What are you going to do with all of that stuff?" "Whatever I may need to do with it," Hannahoko replied. Nick chose not to think about what that may be. Erin took some chain mail from the wall; it was fitted perfectly for her. She grabbed some silver elfin made armor and headed down to metal staffs. Fourteen metal staffs were in front of her, one placed directly above the other on the wall. She took the metal staff she already wore to her back out and placed it back on the wall. Then she selected a new staff, one with an immense amount of detail. The metal was filled with pictures of Neptune, her friends, her horse and herself. "How do I look?" asked Erin grinning. Fully equipped Erin was quite a sight. She stood quite tall, although her shoes allowed her to stand shorter than usual. To someone who didn't know her she looked incredibly intimidating. “Now, Nick,” said Erin smiling, “What can we get for you?” Nick smiled back showing a row of white teeth. He opened his jacket and strapped to each side was at least four pistols. “You hide that well,” Erin said genuinely impressed. Hannahoko nodded in agreement. ****** Penguins flew in many directions all being attacked by some unseen being. The Kidd was already safely taken away by this point, though. The retired psychologist left a trail of penguins behind him as he ran to go warn Hannahoko. He turned around to see the slaughtered penguins; his irises had now reappeared. To his surprise he wasn’t the only one who had been executing the ever-growing amount of mutant penguins. A man attired completely in silver and wielding a gigantic sword was assisting him. With one complete swing of the sword the silver clothed man had single-handedly taken out four of the penguins. A smile played across the Psychologist’s face. “Let’s go at it!” he cried. His eyes lost all color and he was gone once more. ************* “Anday! There you are!” The Commander turned to see the Queen striding towards him. She was rather tallish for being a half elf, Anday thought to the side. “Excuse me, guys,” Anday said to the pilots he had been speaking to. “Yes, Hannahoko?” “Anday, I must speak with you,” she said. “About?” The Queen paused before saying, “I want to add someone to your squadron.” Anday crossed his arms. “And who would that be?” “He’s a good pilot, and very trustworthy...” “Hannahoko who is it!” Anday cut her off. “Nick Armstrong.” “Isn’t he a Russian, Hannahoko?” Anday asked skeptically. “He was born in Russia,” she said tactfully. “Hannahoko! I am not putting a Russian on my air and space force! He’s Russian! That’s our enemy!” “Anday! Come on, just trust him,” she paused and added, “Trust me.” “Look, Hannahoko, I don’t tell you how to do your job...” “You ALWAYS tell me how to do my job, first of all! And secondly, protecting my nation is my job! Now, either you let Nick on your squadron or I suggest you find some where else to be a pilot.” “Whatever happened to, ’I need you Anday, help me!’” he mocked, “If I leave, you don’t have a chance, and you know it!” “Don’t you get it,” she cried, “ I don’t have a chance anyway! That’s why we need all the help we can get, genius!” Anday began laughing; it started out as a snicker but soon became a boisterous laugh. “What’s so funny?” She asked earnestly. “I’m sorry, you’re just so funny when you’re mad. Look, I’ll let Nick on the team, but I can’t promise you the other guys will accept him.” “Oh thank you Anday!” said Hannahoko. She hugged him around the neck and kissed him on the cheek, “I’m going to go tell Nick.” She started to run off when Anday yelled, “Hey, does that mean you want to go out sometime?” “Nope!” She yelled back without turning around. Anday shrugged and went back to talk with the pilots. |