Birthday

"Thank you for shopping at Hart's Tools!" Said the Android cheerfully. "Come again soon!"

Wish waved goodbye as she exited the story, bags slung over one shoulder. She hurried to the the aircraft hanger where he aircraft and Javes sat. She quickly climbed the ladder.

"Would it have killed you to help me?" She sighed exasperatedly as she dropped both of the heavy bags on the floor.

He just stared at her, trying to hold back an insult. She pointedly ignored his staring and flopped down onto a seat.

He had remembered something his uncle always said to him: 'If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.'

"…stupid uncle." He grumbled aloud.

"What?" Wish asked.

Javes finally stopped staring. "Nothing, just shut up."

Wish rolled her eyes. "Can we go already? I don't want to be late."

In response, Javes booted up the engine.

--------------

Kira, Mason, Hede, Serenity, Pax, Helix and Zak sat inside the big marble rotunda in the courtyard of the Idem Clan House, waiting until Wish and Javes arrived. The space was filled with tables and seats for guests as well as a small stage and snack stand at the head. There were already dozens of people milling about, most of them being a part of the Idem Clan.

The team wore their celebration uniform: a form-fitting, white spandex shirt emblazoned with the Gen A logo and black cargo pants that reached the calf. The outfit was topped off with combat boots and no accessories

Zak tapped his fingers on the table impatiently, as he stared off in the snack stands direction.

"Can you stop doing that?" Pax asked, annoyed.

This only made him tap more.

Pax tried again. "Stop that!" The tapping stopped. Zak looked at Pax and glared.

"Woah," Pax laughed. "I guess you really are Javes' twin. Why are you fidgeting so much?"

Zak shook his head and motioned at a pair of people by the snack stand.

Helix raised an eyebrow. "What? Are those two getting in the way of your precious snacks?"

Zak shook his wildly, meaning no, then motioned in their direction again.

"Use your words, dude." Hede said.

Zak leaned in closer to Helix. He whispered, "Those two over there, do you know them?"

"What?" Helix asked, confused. "No, I don't think so." He shrugged.

Zak shook his head again. He gestured and said a little louder this time. "Do you," Zak pointed at Helix's eyes. "know them?" He pointed back at the people by the stand.

After a second of being confused, realization dawned on him.

"Oh, give me a second." Helix said as he looked at the 2 people.

"{Agnoscis Oculi}. Enhance." He whispered. His eyes, once of the dark grey they usually were, were now a bright, metallic grey which made his eyes glow.

His gaze focused on the 2 at the table, which he could now identify as...

"Phillip Worth and Mikael Tin." He whispered to the rest of the table. "Both of them work for Head Mataus Bask as secretaries."

Zak covered his face with his hands. "I knew I recognized them."

"Should we tell them to come over?" Serenity asked.

"No!" He yelled but quieted down after he got questioning stares, including those from the secretaries. He turned to Serenity. "Are you kidding me? I'm obviously trying to hide from them."

"Well, you're not doing a very good job." Kira commented. "There's no reason to hide anyways, Mr. B is pretty cool."

The secretaries moved in their direction.

"No, don't come this way." Zak pleaded with himself, ignoring Kira's statement.

The secretaries stopped directly in front of him. Both of them looked excruciatingly average, the group thought.

"Sir Zak. What a wonderful surprise!" Said one of the secretaries, Mikael.

'Average voice too.' Zak noted.

"Uh, nice to meet you guys...again." Zak said.

He turned looked around warily. "What are you doing here? My dad's not here is he?"

The other Phillip was about to say no when,

"Dad's here?"

The team turned around.

There stood Javes looking around the room carefully and Wish who stood struggling under the weight of 8 bags.

Javes looked at Phillip. "Where is he?"

"Uh, well, we actually came in his place. Your father is not here." Phillip said.

Javes grunted and sat down in a spare chair. Wish walked to head of the room to deposit the presents.

"You guys got everything on the list right?" Mason inquired.

"I think so." Javes said shortly.

Wish hurried back to the table. "Oh my god Pax, can you believe this guy." She pointed at Javes. "He saw me struggling to carry 8 bags and you know what said?"

"What?" Pax asked.

"He said: 'Walk faster.'" Wish imitated his voice. "Not, 'Do you need some help', or 'Let's take a break', but 'WALK FASTER."

Javes imitated her eye roll. "Oh, please spare me Man Hands. you could have carried me too if you tried."

Wish scoffed. "I'd kill my pet turtle before I'd carry you."

Zak frowned. "You'd kill your pet turtle? "

"It was a figure of speech, dude." Helix patted his shoulder.

Wish was about to respond, but a lady had now walked on stage. She resigned from the conversation and took her seat.

"Welcome, welcome!" The lady called out to everyone in the rotunda.

"Thank you all for coming to my daughters party." The lady exclaimed. "It makes me so happy to see so many faces!"

"We are here today to celebrate her promotion into the strongest sub-division in the league, Team Z!"

Everyone gave a round of applause.

"Now, lets bring her out." Lucy's mother watched with a smile as she stepped onstage. Despite it being her party, where she could wear whatever she want, she chose to wear the ceremonial uniform for Gen A's.

When Lucy stood beside her mother, the almost looked identical. They both had had tanned skin and dark hair and eyes that looked dark but alive. The only difference was that her mother was slightly taller than her.

Lucy took mic her mother gave her with a smile.

"Thank you all for coming to celebrate this occasion with me." Lucy grinned. "But you didn't waste time in your day for us to talk. So, let's party!"