Generations - Reunion

Most families, Vivian reflected, have a fire evacuation plan. Her family was the only one, she thought (totally ignoring Uncle Tiny and his family) was the only one with a Spectran Attack evacuation plan.

She snorted as she followed her brother down to the concrete bunker that housed their vehicles.

“Viv?” Chris turned at the noise. “All OK?”

“No,” she said defiantly. “I don’t consider that it would be OK to be having your house attacked by aliens!” She stopped suddenly. “Why is this happening to me? What have I done?”

Chris sighed. “Knock it off, Viv. We have to get out of here.” As if to punctuate his sentence, the whole structure shook, and Chris started to look worried. “Fast, Viv. Real fast.”

At this the girl looked scared and she took her older brother’s hand as they ran towards the underground bunker. Chris activated the door from his bracelet as they ran, and he was thankful to see that it had opened enough for them to slip in. He tried to activate the exit door, which rumbled then stopped. “Chris?” Vivian’s voice was high pitched. “Why won’t the door open?”

Chris looked grim and punched the button to close the door they had just entered by. “Probably because this door is open,” he said gruffly, hoping that this was the case. “Come on, let’s get going.”

They climbed into their mother’s car, and Chris started the engine, trying again to activate the exit from his bracelet. The rumbling went longer this time, but again stopped. Chris moved the car towards the exit, hoping the door had opened enough for them to get out.

They could hear the sounds of destruction, feel the bombs dropping, and both knew that their home had been destroyed.

Beside him, Vivian was crying. Chris knew that he had to get them both out safely.

Vivian sniffed. It wasn’t fair – they had lived here all their lives, and this was the first time that Spectra had attacked their home. It must be Mark’s fault, she reasoned. Ever since he had come back, things had gone wrong with her family.

If Mark hadn’t come back, both Mama and Dad would have been home, and they would have gotten her to safety. If Mark didn’t exist, Mama and Dad would be married and she wouldn’t be worried about Mama going back to Mark.

“Why haven’t Dad and Mama come to get us?” she asked her brother. “Why have they left us here?”

“No choice, Vivian. They have to get rid of the mecha’s.”

“We are their first responsibility. It’s Mark’s fault. If he hadn’t come back, Mama and Dad wouldn’t have left us”.

“Don’t be an idiot, Vivian”. Chris was tense, trying to see through the darkness to the door – to a way out. “Where would they have left us? In the middle of a mecha firefight?”

“I don’t care,” sulked Vivian. “They left us!”

Chris groaned as he saw that the door had not opened enough to get a car out. He stopped the car and got out.

“What now?” asked Vivian?

“We need to find another way out.” He led her back to the garage and looked around. As they explored, the heard a huge explosion and a thump. The garage area filled with dust and Chris heard the sounds of a collapse.

Vivian screamed and Chris put his arm around her. “Don’t worry, kiddo. We’ll get out. And you know that once G-Force have taken care of Spectra they’ll come and get us.”

Then, as Chris looked around, he spotted something. Mama’s bike! “Vivian, I know how we can get out!” He pointed and Vivian looked to where he was pointing.

“You know we’re not allowed to ride Mama’s bike!”

“It’s a bit different situation now, Vivian. We’re not joyriding, we’re escaping an Spectra attack. And Mama will be really pissed off if her bike gets totalled because the garage fell on it.”

Vivian didn’t look convinced. “But it’s transmuted and we can’t start it!”

“I can, if I transmute too. When we’re in birdstyle, our bracelets will activate all the vehicles. Well, except the Phoenix.” Chris briefly looked chagrined, remembering when he had tried to activate the Phoenix, and Tiny’s reaction.

Another thud made them both jump. “Stop talking, and start doing then,” cried Vivian.

“Stand back, Vivian.” Chris stepped away from her and took a deep breath. It still hurt to transmute, but he knew that he had to do it. “Transmute,” he cried, panting slightly as the transformation finished.

“Chris?” Vivian looked at her brother, knowing it was him, but still a little afraid of the grey-clad bird in front of her.

“Yeah.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Yeah.”

“You…. You don’t look like you, Chris.”

He looked at his little sister, the enhancements of his birdstyle making everything, including Vivian, seem sharper. He could smell her fear, smell her bewilderment, and see in her body language the same. Once again, he was astonished at the interface between his implant and his birdstyle. “I suppose I’m not Chris like this. I’m G-force.”

“But will you be able to start Mama’s bike?”

Chris swung his leg over the bike and touched his bracelet face to the matching place on the bike. There was a brief pause, then the powerful machine sprang to life. Chris could feel it vibrating but the engine was nearly silent. “Come on Viv,” he said, holding his hand to his sister.

She swung on behind him, and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Mama is gonna kill me for riding without a helmet,” she noted.

Chris grinned at that. “Somehow, Viv, I suspect she will have other things to worry about.”

He kicked off, and they roared up the tunnel, the bike handling the obstacles with ease, and they managed to squeeze out the opening. They were out!!

“Now to find some way to signal the Phoenix,” he called.