A Daughter's Desire OR How to turn a Mother's Hair Gray 101 OR The Young Intern-Op
“In this house, I am the one making the rules, and you are the one following them. That means... you come home when I ask you to, you do your homework, you stay at home when told. You don't challenge my decisions when they are final.”
The words of her new mother hit her like a ton of bricks. She realized that being the daughter of Hayley Dinnen would not be something that allowed her plenty of freedom. However, one thing stuck out over all others. “Homework?”
“Yes. I'm enrolling you to Omni-Teks educational facilities in Rome. You'll start next week... you think you'd get away with no school?”
The ton of bricks became tons of tons of bricks... school? She realized that Lem was tutored by Dupont, a very prestigious teacher, and she would not be. The reason... she could only assume it was because Lem was more advanced than her age. But now, without Lem’s mind, she was nothing but a young teenager with no basic education with the exception that the brain chip provided her. No... this was not her. More than anything, she wanted one thing... to follow in her mom’s footsteps. The reasoning behind that logic she couldn’t figure out with the exception that it just seemed right. Thus, her quest to become an Intern-Op of Omni-Tek began.
She decided to ask her mom about it right there and then... though first asked for some sort-of ‘weekly-deposit’ into her credit account. Coming off of that victory, she felt invincible, and thus popped the question. “Well... instead of going to some educational facility... or I can still do that and all... but... um... well I didn't say instead... because education is very important... especially since I don't know how much I do know without her in my head...” her mom kept asking her to just say it. This was easier than what it seemed. Although she still had to see a doctor for a check-up, she knew that due to her accelerated growth she was probably no older than fourteen, maybe even thirteen. Though she was already grown a bit thanks to an early puberty, she was still at least four years from being able to insure with the local scanners of the planet. “But... um... I was wondering if... well... after-school and all... I could... come...” stutter stutter stutter. The words just would not come out, so with a deep breath she spat out all of it at once: “workwithyouinyourworkplacedoingwhatyoudo”.
It was as feared. Her mom looked to her seriously tapping her knees before shaking her head with a smile. Then... it came! “Yes, Chelle...” Wonderful! She couldn’t believe it! Her mom said... said... oh... she wasn’t finished yet... her hopes were slashed within a moment after being at an all-time high: “You can come to Vector Blue in due time. But first school and then, when you're of age, I'll take you to talk to Jen about it.” Oh, and to add to it... the most horrible fear realized it with the next words forming on her mom’s tongue: “You’re *far* too young yet.” she said with much emphasis on the word far. So when could she join? “No training until you’re able to scan and reclaim.” No! No whining or complaining could change her mom’s mind about it either. “If you die before you're able to scan, you are dead forever. Do you really think I would put you in any danger? I've already lost one...I'm not going to lose the second.”
The second... yes... it just had to come down to that. The one her mom had become attached to now came back to haunt her. Dammit Ari! But this was not going to stop her. No! Her determination was strong to help her mom and to learn to be like her. She wanted nothing more than to work side-by-side with her, sharing their lives together. After all, her mom had told her that they would be together forever, and nothing would change that. Thus, she said the one thing that under normal situations she would be just too afraid to say. “Fine... I'll do it without your permission then...”
This was a poor choice in words. Later on upon reflection, she would look back and decide that... next time... it would be better to break the rules without first declaring it first. “Didn't we just talk about house rules?” Chelle nodded to her mom. “Good. Then you know that breaking them will have an impact. So...you will *not* start battle training without my consent.”
Well, Jen... that is... Ms. Markarian (it was so hard to call her that as she had always known her as just Jen... but to do so she knew would be disrespectful and didn’t want to appear as such) would never let her do this. So she did the only thing she knew how to do in this case, cheat. At first she had stolen the communicator off of someone she found sleeping, the name ‘Uriya’ was imprinted onto the machine. Upon investigation of it, she realized that it was nothing more than some poor old woman’s. The visual monitor was shattered, the internal system busted up... perfect for someone who needed to disguise herself.
First came disaster! She had accidentally called some Clanner named McDuff thinking he was the leader of an intern-op division! This caused her to re-think her strategy. Better talk to Ms. Markarian. So she did. Oh... what a mistake! Sure it worked, but not to the same effect that she wanted. She had tricked her into saying the words she needed. Saying she was eighteen years old and asking if that was enough, the words came: “I've seen people younger than this work fer us”. But meeting in person was different from talking on a communicator. “Yeah... actually... we could do with someone to take care of tha paperwork...” PAPERWORK?! That isn’t real work! That isn’t going undercover or working to uncover a conspiracy against the company! That isn’t working watching the grid-system for security leaks! Sure, she did promise Chelle that she wouldn’t mind assigning her under her mom for training (an idea Chelle had planted in Ms. Markarian’s head over the course of the chat) “but I wouldn't do THAT without talking to Hayley first, in any case. I said I'll talk her into this. But I dun't want it to be a problem either. Bad ambiance in tha department and all. So I need to... prepare her first, I think.” Yea right. Mom would never agree. This is a dead-end.
Chelle searched and searched. School loomed ahead of her the next week. Four more days and she’d be there, with no hope of ever working with her mom. If only she had a bit of luck... well lady luck (or should she say mister luck) walked in the form of that of “Colonel Craddock, Omni-InternOps Division 3.” He answered as his name. A bold move it was. This Intern-Op agent, call-sign EternalForce, had been talking with a Clanner named Caid and an Omni employee of Shadow-Ops named Malachii a few moments before. When the two others left, she decided to take the chance and go for it.
“I was seeking to get into employment of Omni-Tek... and I wanted to work for an intern-op agency.” How she swore those words echoed throughout the rooms of Rompas! Not only was it totally un-professional, but the Colonel probably was not in the best of moods. Still, the chance presented itself and... she knew... if somehow someway she could just get into *any* intern-op division her mom would pull her out in a second and transfer her to Vector Blue. The plan was sound, what could go wrong?
- AO webcomics for the sake of being silly