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Started February 12, 2018 by Mila

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"I grew up there," Patagonia reminisced, watching the blacktop roll swiftly by like a majestic eagle. "In Orlando. It's beautiful once you get past all the tourist attractions."

Lucia smiled. "I've never been out of my hometown," she said wistfully. "I've always wanted to travel, but preferred to finish uni first."

Alaria shook her head, "I've only been on leave. All I remember was having to take my armor off because it was too frickin' hot."

Lucia laughed quietly. Hoping it wasn't indiscreet, she asked, "Alaria, how did you get to being a soldier?"

Alaria smiled, "Y'know, that's a bit of a long story. We ain't got time for it all, but let's just say it's a bit sappy. Basis of it all, I was born into a hybrid suburb, and the hybrids kinda… took to me. Then we started training from there."

Patagonia smiled faintly, pressing her cheek against the window. "It would be nicer without having to worry about all of this…"

Alaria waved a dismissive hand to Patagonia, "You ain't got a thing to worry about anymore. We…" she gestured to herself, Lucia and Jay, "…will sort this out with ya. Speaking of sorting things out, you've been pretty quiet up until now. I don't wanna push you, but we still need to figure out what's going on. What did we learn from your brother?"

Alaria finally got herself out of the habit of saying buddy boy. It didn't seem right anymore.

"Buddy boy?" Patagonia snickered, somewhat solemnly. "Someone was looking for George, who my brother brought to the shop to sell to Stephen. George is a genetically modified supersoldier and Stephen is a covert military leader who will stop at nothing to overthrow our government and is willing to spend millions to do it." She continued laughing with this, more out of fear than anything else. "And the sad part is… He tried paying 1.4 Million for me!! God, I wish I was really worth that much… My brother said no anyway. He didn't want to send me off with the creep."

Lucia frowned. That last detail softened the edges of the image she had of Columbia. "And what was Colu- your brother's job in all this?"

"He was Stephen's main dealer. He kidnapped people, sent them to me for testing and genetic modification, and then he trained them and sold them to Stephen." Patagonia shuddered.

Alaria nodded slowly, taking in Patagonia's story.

"Any ideas on where to start?"

"Dunkin' Doughnuts, obviously." Patagonia rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Although I'd love to go there. He has an office off main street in St. Augustine."

"Perfect. We can head over there slowly and discreetly, maybe and stop to get some snacks. I'm starving." Lucia told everyone.

Patagonia murmured a weak agreement, feeling her mood crashing again. From all her recent tendencies, she may as well have been pregnant.
Am I?
She did seem a little plump recently, a little irritable and bipolar, but she'd blamed it on the situation they were in and the lack of a healthy diet. But, then again, it was highly likely. Anger-driven commando dudes liked having their way, regardless of how others felt about it. She nudged Alaria in the side and whispered in her ear. "Do I seem pregnant?"

Alaria was taken aback by the question. By sheer randomness if nothing else. It had come from nowhere.

What does pregnant even look like?

Alaria had never thought about getting kids of her own. It seemed absurd, an utter waste of energy. She answered, "I don't know. You seem fine to me, if not a little rattled in your head. But then again, aren't we all a little odd?" She winked.

Lucia the exchange between Patagonia and Alaria. The latter seemed very surprised, and Patagonia seemed nervous. She looked away as Alaria winked.

Alaria noticed Lucia glancing in her direction and shrugged, then looked to Jay, "So. Brass Monkey, eh? Didn't they ever tell you that being a gang member made more enemies than friends?"

Jay's expression, ever changeless, shrugged. "I know it. Isn't quite the same when you're being blackmailed by a woman you thought loved you, but-" he took a deep breath, his arms crossed in a 'whatever' type body language, as if he didn't care and the past was the past. "Rowell and the boys wouldn't let me go now, anyways, I'm their top shooter and.." He caught his tongue, pretending he didn't say 'and', just ending it their. Didn't think it was the best idea to let an official know that the gang member tech guy was also an informant, though, when you put two and two together it was pretty obvious.

Patagonia blushed and giggled a little bit at Alaria's wink, then returned to staring out the window as the landscape rolled by at 70 miles an hour.

Alaria waited for the end of it, and when it didn't come, she prodded, "…and?"

She wasn't going to pretend that she liked having a gang member on her team, but she figured his motives were pure if only for the fact that he hadn't killed her.

Then again, she thought, maybe that's just not his job.

Something clicked, and Alaria decided to roll with her train of thought, "You mentioned not gathering info when we were at Pride. You some kind of hunter? Maybe an informant?"

"You got me," The hybrid nodded slowly, "Not that I planned to be interrrogated anytime soon." He shrugged again, glancing at the commander, swallowing down a pebble of anxiety that rose to his throat. "We're more of a brotherhood than a gang. There's things we don't participate in, such as trafficking."

Patagonia shuddered. "Don't get me started about that."

"But there are things you do participate in," Alaria countered, "Things less than honorable, I'm sure. You want a true brotherhood, you might wannna consider a change in profession." She smiled, "You're a good shot, you say. How good?"