Perfect Sacrifice (17 page)

"We've talked it over," began Gordan, "and Dr. Solaris has talked me into changing your punishment."  Ray now listened intently, wanting to know what her fate would be.  "You won't be staying at the base for a month."

"Yes!" shouted Ray in relief and utter joy as she pumped her arm into the air for emphasis.

"Instead," he continued, "you'll be staying with Dr. Solaris."  Ray stopped her cheering, a small wave of shock washing over her.

"Come again?" she questioned.

"You will stay with Dr. Solaris for the next month where you will follow his rules," explained Gordan.  "Your Geno will be stripped of its armor, replaced by the standard black unit.  You will fight as a member of his team whenever need be, and you will no longer be known as the ace knight."

"What?!" she shouted.  "But what about my battle challenges?"

"You'll be taking a leave of absence," answered Gordan calmly.  "You'll battle as Ray from now on.  Rayla Cayden will be gone for a while."

"You can't do that!" she stated.  "I'm your best knight!"

"You're also the one that Ramirez is after," explained Dr. Solaris.  "He will have a harder time finding you if you stay with us.  This is for your protection."

"Besides," began Brian, a small smirk on his face.  "Would you rather be under house arrest back at the base?"  It didn't take Ray long to decide after that comment.

"I'll do it," she said quickly, remembering her other option.  Anything was better than house arrest, especially if she couldn't use her Geno.

"Fine, it's settled then," said Dr. Solaris happily.  They began walking back to the others.  Dr. Solaris still had to tell his sons about their newest team member.

"Leon, Chris," he called, grabbing the two boys' attention.  "You two don't mind if Ray comes and lives with us, do you?" he asked, looking to his two sons.  Leon and Chris were surprised to say the least, but both just shook their heads.  After all, they weren't about to object.

"Good," said Gordan as he turned around and began walking back to his transporter.  "I leave Ray in your hands, David."  Dr. Solaris only smiled as he watched his long time friend walk away.

"Bye Ray," said Brian as he walked off after his General.

"See you later R.C!" called Abby as she ran after her fellow coworkers.  Ray just sighed as she watched them leave her there with the Solaris family. 
Things can never be easy, can they?

"Come on," said Dr. Solaris as he began to make his way back to his transporter.  "We have a long ways to go before we reach the base."

* * * *

Dr. Solaris opened a door into a small, somewhat plain room.  There was a bed near the corner and a single window on the wall.  A closet was situated in the wall across from the bed.  Other than that, there really wasn't much in it.

"This will be your room," he told Ray as she walked up behind him.  She frowned a little as her eyes did a quick skim of the very dull, white walled room.  "Fell free to redecorate it."

"Don't worry," she muttered softly.  "I will."  She walked in, heading over to the window.  Despite what she had said, she was going to miss the GRC base.  She would miss Abby and Brian, her title as the ace knight, and she was definitely going to miss Gordan.  He had been like a father to her for the last few years.  She was being taken from her home and put into a new place, a new world.  Things were definitely going to be interesting for the next month.

"Will you be alright?" asked Dr. Solaris, snapping her from her small trance.  She glanced back at him, an indecisive look upon her face.  She ran a hand through her hair, keeping away from the left side of her face.

"I don't know," she told him.  "It's been a long time…since I've been anywhere but the base.  In fact…I don't remember ever living anywhere else."  Dr. Solaris nodded.

"We'll do the best we can to make you feel at home," he promised, a concerned look on his face.  He was a father, after all, so he was a master at the concerned parent look.

"Thanks," she said as she turned her attention back to the window.  Dr. Solaris left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Ray leaned against the window frame, staring out across the vast desert.  A thousand thoughts were running across her mind at a hundred miles an hour.  It hurt to even think right now.  There was so much that was wrong with this.  She kept thinking about her punishment, her demotion to a normal Geno battler.  It wasn't fair in her opinion.  She hadn't done anything wrong.  Gordan hadn't kept his promise.

"Why me?" she asked aloud.  She slowly turned, looking over her room.  Hopefully Gordan would bring her stuff by tomorrow.  She hated not having anything to fill the empty space with.

She finally decided to leave her room, heading down the hallway.  She looked into each room she came to, inspecting each one carefully.

"What are you doing?" questioned a voice from behind her.  She whirled around and came face to face with Leon.  He was still wearing the bandages around his forehead, a few stray ones here and there on his arms and legs.  He hadn't changed his slightly torn clothing yet.

"Looking around," she answered simply, examining the hallway.  "I'm going to be living here for a while, so I need to get to know the place."  Leon just shrugged and walked past her.

"Come on," he said.

"What?" she questioned turning towards him.  He stopped walking and glanced back.

"I'm going into town to buy more groceries," he told her.  "I could use some help."  She crossed her arms and turned away from him.

"What if I don't want to?" she asked haughtily, a proud look on her face.  Leon just smirked.  He should have been expecting that from her.

"Then you won't get to eat," he told her, drawing a small glance from her.  "If you're going to live here, then you'll have to pull your own weight.  Dad does our cooking and Geno maintenance, Chris cleans most of the rooms, and I buy our supplies.  Now you can either stay here and not eat dinner tonight, or you can come and help me."  Ray could feel her temper rising, but again this was a battle she couldn't win.  She wasn't about to go without dinner.  She dropped her arms and sighed as she walked over to him.

"Let's go," she said, still sounding arrogant.

"I knew you'd see things my way," he said as he continued on his way with Ray following closely behind him.

* * * *

It was starting to get late, and Ray and Leon were still out shopping.  They had made a lot of stops, and at almost every one, someone had come up to Leon, knowing who he was.  Abby hadn't been kidding when she had mentioned that he was high in the ranks.  He apparently was pretty famous as well.  Most of the people who had greeted him were women.  Each time Ray had walked far away from Leon, letting him have his moment.

"Just one more stop," she begged as they walked down the close to empty sidewalk.

"No," he told her sternly.  "We need to get home.  I'm sick of carrying all of these bags."  He was currently trying to balance three while Ray carried the smallest one.  With only the use of one arm, she really couldn't do much.  Leon had apparently forgotten that when he had asked her to come with.

"Please?" she begged.

"I should have brought Chris," he mumbled.

"What did you say?" she asked, but before he could answer, she continued.  "I know, you said 'yes!'  Why thank you Leon!  Let's go!"  She ran down the street happily.  Leon just glared after her retreating figure, following behind her at his walking pace.  He muttered something under his breath.  It was probably a good thing she hadn't heard the insult.

Ray ran towards a restaurant, shoving open the door.  The man behind the counter looked to her and then sighed.  This was getting old.

"Hello Ray," he greeted.

"Hey Sam," she said happily as she walked into the building, letting the door slam shut behind her.  She walked up to the front desk, a smile on her face.  "Have anything for me?" she asked, giving him the best look of innocence she could muster.  Sam just sighed as he walked back into the storage area.

The door opened again as Leon walked in.  He set the bags down, deciding to take a small break.  His arms were killing him.  It was at that moment that Sam came back, a bag in his hands.  He handed it to Ray.

"If you keep asking for this stuff," he began, "you'll put me out of business.  I can't just keep giving you things for free."

"It's alright," she told him.  "You can just put it on my tab."

"You don't have one here," he told her, his eyes narrowing in slight annoyance.

"Then put it on Gordan's," she said as she turned away, walking towards Leon.

"Hey Ray," called Sam, drawing her attention.  "What happened to your arm?"

"The battle royal," she told him.  "It got dislocated when Ramirez's troops attacked afterwards."  Sam frowned deeply as he walked out from behind the counter.  He sighed as he went over to her.

"You sure have a knack for getting in trouble," he said as he went over to a glass case that she was standing next to.  He pulled out a key and unlocked it.  Inside the case was an assortment of items.  Some were weapons while others were just strange artifacts that he obviously collected.  He was currently reaching for a silver gun.  It was oddly shaped, similar to a handgun only a little bigger.  He pulled it out and turned to Ray.

"What is it?" she asked him.  He eyed her skeptically.

"It's a gun," he said, wondering why she had even asked.

"No, I know that," she said, "but what kind?"

"I'm not exactly sure," he said, examining it a little.  "However, I'd like you to take this with."  He handed the gun to her as she set the bag down.  She looked it over, running her fingers over the smooth, silver metal.

"Why?" she asked.  He glanced at Leon and then bent down to whisper something in her ear.  Leon just stood by patiently, waiting for them to finish their conversation.  He quirked an eyebrow when he saw a foreign emotion wash through Ray's cherry eye.  It was gone just as quickly as it came.

Sam pulled away, and Ray whispered a timid "thank you" before picking up the bag he had given her earlier.  She walked over towards Leon, watching as he picked up his three bags.  She placed the gun in her bag, not wanting to lose it.  She gave Sam one more glance before using her good shoulder to open the door.

"Bye Sam," she said as she walked out.

"Take care," he called after her.  Leon followed Ray out the door, curious as to what Sam had said to her.  However, the look on her face suggested that it wasn't something she wanted to talk about.  Instead, they walked in silence back towards the town entrance where Leon had left his car.

* * * *

When they got home, it was already dark.  Leon placed the bags down on the table as Ray walked past him, heading towards her new room.  Their ride back had been silent.  Only when she had offered him part of her dinner from Sam had they said anything.  They had gotten back a little late for Dr. Solaris to cook for them.  Leon began the tedious task of unloading the groceries, all the while wondering why his father had even asked for Ray to join their team in the first place.

An infuriating thought crossed his mind.  Was it because his father didn't think that he and Chris were good enough on their own anymore?  Did he think that they needed Ray in order to win more battles?  The very thought was enough to make him bitter towards their new teammate.

In a different part of the base, Ray was walking towards her room.  She gently opened the door, not making any sound.  When she entered her room, she quickly closed it and walked over to her bed.  She emptied the contents of her bag, spilling out random food products and assorted gifts, such as magazines and books.  She quickly sorted through them, stopping as she was about to pick up the gun he had given her.  It was currently empty, requiring a unique type of ammo.

Ray carefully picked it up, setting it on the small bed stand near her bedpost.  It was the only other piece of furniture in the room.  She just stared at the silver handgun for a while, remembering what Sam had told her about it.  Sam had been a good friend of her father's, which she already knew.  Otherwise he wouldn't give her so much for free.  However, he was slowly becoming more reluctant.  She would have to start paying him back pretty soon.

Ray lied down on her bed, deciding to get some sleep.  She hadn't gotten too much in the last few days.  A good night's sleep was all she really needed right now.  Hopefully her thoughts would quell, being overwhelmed by the impending exhaustion in the back of her mind.  She closed her eyes and nearly fell asleep, but a loud crash quickly caught her attention.  She shot up and went to the door.  Quickly, she ran to the kitchen, and there sat Leon, an empty bag sitting next to him.  Its contents were now all over the floor.

Ray felt a smile tugging at her lips, and before she could help it, she was laughing.  It wasn't because he had spilled the food everywhere, but because of where some food, such as the eggs, had landed.  They were now all over him, his clothing soaked by uncooked egg whites.  He shot a glare at Ray as she was trying her best to contain some of her laughter.

"It's not funny," he stated angrily, his voice sounding lower than it usually was.  Ray stopped laughing, but her smile remained.  It finally disappeared altogether when he hissed in pain, placing a hand to the side of his head.  Some of the egg had seeped through his bandages.