Millie's POV
"Get your hands on the air! Slowly..." he barked at me.
"Why? So you can kill me with my back turned?" I asked as the man's expression shows that he means business. "You won't try to answer my question, are you?" I asked despite the man pointing a gun to my face.
"You are one stubborn bitch... I said get your hands up in the air!" he demanded.
"I would rather die, Brute!" I walked toward the end of his gun, I don't trust the man, and knowing typical mercenaries, they usually shoot-to-kill. "I am ready to die," I said nonchalantly.
"You don't care about getting your brains blown out, do you, egghead?" he looked at me and up-down. "Are you a scientist?"
"Yes, I am. MY name is -"
"Millie Ernheart Stone!" a man exclaimed. "Do you remember me, from the military academy science & tech division?"
"Skip Fozen?!" I remember him... my young pupil, from all these years. "So is this what you've been up to, working as a mercenary? I thought you have better aspirations than that, Mr. Fozen!" I put my hands on my hips. "You're his father, right?"
"Getting all sassy with me, huh?! You scientists scurrying like rats and hiding behind their safest defense protocol." he grits his teeth.
"This 'Rat' has seen more horrors than you can realize, I had to fight tooth and nail to survive, just like you!" I said, recalling my experiences from being in 2 major incidents.
"I'm no soldier or physical specimen, I know how to hold my own. You are quick to judge us for being 'Eggheads' ".
He continues to point his gun at my head; I remained standing where I am. This is not the first time someone threatened my life or someone tried to kill me.
It wasn't until a young woman came to us and got our attention using... PSI? Before I can say anything, this woman communicates using GSL (Galactic Sign Language) to let me know what she is thinking.
She said: Stop this right now! Boss, this scientist is a kind woman, and she is a lot braver than the toughest guns that we met. If you kill her, you won't be able to know about the current situation at hand and we'll have a hard time searching for the research data...
What?!
"Why are you after the research data?!" Concerned about their intentions. "Are you mercenaries being hired by a corporation, hmm?" I smiled.
"Lady, we aren't the types that work for those men in suits." the man snapped. "We work for clients in the military, not the corporate sector."
"And I am the type that worked with these men in suits, using our expertise & genius so they can to make a big buck from our work," I said. "Their asses will even disregard human ethics & safety for pursuing the almighty dollar!" I said flippantly.
"Whoa! That woman sure knows how to talk, boss!" a man said beside him.
"Okay, back to the first question, 'Boss'. Why are you here?" I said.
"We are only here for the research data and the name is Mark, only my crew calls me 'Boss', not you!" He said, "And we are here to find any survivors that didn't die, I assume that is just you?"
I looked around and remembered what I needed to get; I told him to hold on for a moment. I remember that Boyek, Maron, Celd will need the items for us to survive this madness. Then I turned back to the muscular mercenary who looks like he knows his stuff.
"Have you seen the Nardyine?" I asked him.
"I got it right here." he flashed it in front of me, I know the gist of it, they will want something in return.
"I will tell you all that you need to know but not here," I said, worry about prying ears "Let's head to the tech support room, Skip knows his stuff and computers-"
"Who made you in charge, Lady?!" Mark bellowed
"I did! The moment I suggested somewhere to talk. And you're the leader of this ragtag group. Now get your ass going, we have got a lot to discuss." I walked past him, stopping short from the door. "Unless you got a problem with us, eggheads?" I kept walking, ignoring his mumbles as we head to the tech room.
Her details
Learning from the group and their names: Mark Fozen, Skip Fozen (Oh I know already, he was my student), Sakura Song, Victor Wu, Joseph Barneck, Jennifer Mozaditine.
They already fought off waves of ... our defense drones, but what surprised me more is Ms. Mozaditine can warp reality, especially because she caused a flood that nearly put her teammates in danger. I scolded her for her recklessness. She could have at least give them the ability to breathe underwater to her companions if she uses her reality manipulation. I directed one of the safe zones that we had set up in tech support before this crisis started.
I took a seat, and I invited them to hear my story on the whole thing which I noticed that Sakara, Skip, Joe & Jenny were looking to hear me out.
"Look, Granny, we don't have time to listen to your story. We need to know where we can find the Data and your fellow eggheads!" he demands.
"Take a seat. I suggest that you take the time to listen, you might learn something, especially on the threats we will deal with." I said sarcastically. "Unless you know something that I don't know, like overgrown plants that can speak to people or knowing what data your 'Client' wants you to get?" I paused for a moment.
"Okay, you have a point miss egghead since you want to share your wisdom with us." he takes a seat much to his frustration.
"Skip, you have the security or nano guard disabled while we are in the room?" I asked.
"Yes, Ms. Stone!" He said
"Good... Mr. Barneck?" I called him to my side.
"Yes, Millie?" He said.
"You know your science, do you?" He asked. "I took a break to learn from the others, that you were a scientist from your youth, correct? I will need your help to break it down for him." I said. "Especially Mr. 'Want to be hard-edge', finds it boring." I looked at Mark. "You'll surprise me, won't you?"
He mumbled to himself
"What was that, I can't hear you!" I motion for him to speak louder than that.
"Nothing, just... Speak, okay?!" He said, fluttered.
"Let's Begin!" I stood and spoke.