Foul Mood

"You know that we might run into more trouble today?", Sabrina mentioned as soon as she walked out of their sleeping quarters.

"Aren't you just a ray of sunshine this morning? Talking about the worst possible thing that could happen," Riley said dryly, eyes not moving from the pan of eggs she was currently scrambling.

"Well, I don't think it's the worst but it's not the best either," Cody pointed out from behind the open fridge door.

"Yeah, but it would be best if they avoided them. The new models are pretty down to business," Archer added from his spot on the couch. He was reloading and prepping other weapons for Sabrina and Riley's little mission today, his scowl never leaving his face.

They all shouted various agreements from different parts of the room.

Sabrina smoothed out her dark brown hair, tucking in stray strands and finally securing it in a ponytail; her signature look, along with Riley.

No one needed hair getting in their way during times like this.

"What happened anyway to that bot you mentioned? The one that got tangled up in the vines?", she asked making her way to see if her assistance was needed.

"I offed it after it shot at me. The light faded from it's eyes and the other's probably deemed it defective and didn't give two craps about it after," the oldest in the room said nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders. He winced when he accidentally aggravated his arm with that action, then went back to what he was doing as if it didn't happen.

"Is your arm okay?", Sabrina found herself asking. Archer stopped what he was doing for a moment, his hand hovering over a matte black switchblade before regaining his bearings. He gave a quick nod in response. Sabrina was satisfied with the answer because she knew that he wouldn't talk more about it.

She spoke up again, "You think it's still out there?"

Riley shot her a questioning look, "I don't think so. He usually cleans them up after they're busted. Why do you ask?"

"Dunno. I was thinking that maybe it could have some valuable information on it, or maybe a direct link to central command or something," she explained while her eyes darted over to the youngest, still searching the fridge, "Okay, Cody. Just what are you looking for? You've been digging around there for like three years now," she said dramatically.

"I'm looking for this thing."

"That's really helpful."

He shot her an unamused stare while she lifted her hands in surrender.

"Do you need some help?", she offered.

"No, I'll find it."

She said a quick 'Okay' and went to Riley's side. The silence was soon accompanied by a victorious 'Aha!', and Cody emerged from the icy depths of the fridge with a small brown container in his hand and scurried to the sofa, which he jumped on. He then pulled out a spoon from... somewhere and began scooping out the brown mixture from inside.

"Is that... Ice-cream?", Archer asked as if he couldn't fathom its existence at this point.

Cody lowered the container slowly onto his lap and smiled innocently, then began to scoop it up even faster.

"Give it to me!", Archer screamed and dove at the boy, forgetting about his arm. Apparently his excitement for ice-cream numbed his pain.

Riley picked the frying pan off the stove so that the eggs didn't get burnt while she watched the boys goof around, with Sabrina. Sabrina glanced in Riley's direction and saw amusement and a special kind of fondness in her eyes. It made her think how close these people were and how much they'd been through with each other. She couldn't help but feel like she was intruding here. She felt like an outsider, but then again she always did. Nobody understood her other than her family and now... they were gone.

Her thoughts were cut short as Cody let out a shriek and was playfully tossed off the sofa (he didn't get hurt) while Archer sat on it, smirking at the fallen ice-cream hoarder.

"Victory is mine!" he bellowed.

Cody let out a huff of air and snickered. "You're a jerk," he said.

They all laughed.

"Breakfast is ready," Riley announced and began serving them on plates with equal portions.

Sabrina didn't even notice her dishing it out. She frowned and looked at the ground.

When had that happened?

Cody looked at Sabrina, "Aren't you coming to eat, Lia?"

She looked up a little too quickly and nodded, "Yeah, I'll be right there. I just need to do something real quick."

Cody raised his eyebrow but nodded and went to eat breakfast while Sabrina went to the bathroom and locked the door.

She walked to the sink and looked in the mirror. She didn't see herself, instead she saw her mother reaching out with tears trailing down her kind face. Sabrina reached out towards her too but stopped when her fingertips met the cold glass and her breath hitched. She shivered and shook and then it truly hit her.

She was all alone.

Her family was gone.

Her parents were gone

Her brother was God-knows where.

He's probably gone too.

They all left her.

She was alone.

And there was nothing she could do.

She didn't know she was crying until she heard the soft 'pat' of her tear hitting the floor. She slammed her hands on the sides of the sink and more tears came out.

I can't bring them back.

I can never see them again.

She wished she could stay in that bathroom forever. She didn't want to go out anymore.

But then she made a promise.

I will fight.

I will make him pay.

He took you away from me.

I'll make sure he realises that he made the biggest mistake in the universe.

I'm coming for you, Victor.

xxx

The walk along the rebel's usual route was quiet. Not quiet as in 'This is awkward,' but more like 'Let's not talk, so we don't die.'

Sabrina was grateful for it, especially after the episode that morning. She'd been on the receiving end of Cody's concerned gaze throughout breakfast. Heck, even Archer, who had the social capacity of a brick wall, noticed that something was up. Riley knew too, but didn't bring it up. She knew that if Sabrina wanted to talk, she would have, but that didn't stop her from casting worried glances at her friend every few minutes. Sabrina wasn't really in the mood for small talk.

She look determinedly ahead and walked with a purpose. Was she alert or paranoid? Maybe a bit of both. She didn't really care at this point. All she wanted to do was get out of the confines of the bunker. Sure, the place was huge, but in those few moments, she felt like she was suffocating.

The air outside was much better. Even though it was a little smoky.

Who cares? We're almost by the forest trail. Fresh air sounds great.

She kept her thoughts mundane like that. Not really letting them flow from one idea to another. She didn't want to get lost in them and lose her concentration. Also, her mind always tended to wander towards her family and right now, that was the last thing she needed. She was already in a bad mood.

The girls neared the forest. They didn't go through it, but instead treaded carefully along it's borders. The change in the atmosphere was welcomed. It already felt lighter than the dense air from where they came. Sabrina stopped to take a deep breath and allowed herself to smile a little from the little relief it brought.

Riley sensing that the other girl wasn't walking behind her, stopped and turned on her heel just in time to see the frown on her face fade into a tiny smile before it made it's reappearance. They began walking again. Not wanting to take the silence anymore, Riley spoke up, "Lia?"

Sabrina didn't answer back but looked at her friend to acknowledge the call.

I swear if she asks me if I'm okay. I'm gonna-

"Are you okay?"

Aaannd there it is. How wonderful.

"Yes."

"Are you sur-"

"I said I'm fine," she said firmly, cutting the other girl off.

Riley flinched but didn't push further. Sabrina felt bad, she wanted to apologise but she couldn't bring herself to. She was also annoyed. She didn't need help. She could handle her own feelings. But Riley only wanted to know if she was okay. The girl was worried about her and Sabrina hurt her. She opened her mouth to apologise but the something shone in her eye.

She looked ahead once again. Silver was glinting at them amidst the vines and a little ways in front of it was a cabin.

The sentry.

She took off running. Riley called out to her and started running too when she didn't respond. They stopped and hid behind a tree that was approximately 5 meters away from the damaged robot.

"That's the same one, right?", Sabrina whispered.

Riley looked at her uncertain and nodded hesitantly.

"Great. I think it's dead for good. Let's go and get some dirt on Vic," she said and carefully made her way towards it in the safety of the bushes.

Riley followed her, taking the same path.

They made it to the sentry without any issue. Sabrina quickly took out a flash drive with a built-in hacking program - courtesy of Cody - and inserted it into the sentry's programming core. The flash drive blinked green, an indicator that everything was going smoothly.

Hopefully this thing has something useful on it.

She waited impatiently for it to finish, tapping her foot, but that didn't make it go any faster. She groaned in frustration.

Riley, not wanting to face Sabrina at the moment, excused herself to look for the bag that Archer had left the previous day, just to check if it was there.

Finally, after an agonising six minute wait, that felt like half an hour to Sabrina, ended as the flash drive's light stayed a solid green before fading out completely. She hastily dismounted the device and shoved it in a little compartment on her new utility belt.

"I'm done here, Riley," she called out.

"Me too. The bag's still here."

"Where is it?"

"I left it here. We can pick it up on the way back. No use carrying it everywhere," Riley said softly.

"Good point."

Riley said nothing and they continued walking. The tension in the air was thick.

Sabrina messed up. She was supposed to apologise but she got distracted. No wonder Riley was acting all cold. She couldn't afford to lose one of her only friends.

I'm such an idiot.

"Riley?"

No response.

"Riles?"

Riley's head picked up.

Okay good. She wasn't ignoring me. She was probably lost in her thoughts as well.

"Riley, look. I'm sorry for snapping at you back there. You just wanted to help and I was being a jerk."

Riley released a long breath.

"It's okay. I get it. I've been there too. I don't know what you're going through but I also get like that sometimes. Just... If you ever want to talk, I'm here."

"I know, thank you," Sabrina said reaching for her hand and giving it a light squeeze before letting it go.

Riley turned around and Sabrina gave a kind smile, which was returned.

The tension in the air dissipated and the girls continued walking.

Deep down, Sabrina felt like something bad was going to happen today.