“You’ve come all this way Song. And for what? Revenge?” The man stood in a karate gi his arms folded and head back arrogantly.
“I’ve come for more than that,” Gen said raising her fist. She was wearing a torn short sleeved shirt and a skirt. They stood on a grassy field the wind moving across them slowly. “I’ve come for my redemption.”
“The only thing you’ll have is death,” he said raising his fist into a similar stance.
They stood together, the wind moving and then a clacker came down. “Alright that’s a scene. Take five and we’ll get ready for the fight choreography.”
Both Gen and the man lowered their arms standing up. Gen immediately walked off to the circle of production equipment, ignored the wind machine, the men and the women. She sat in her chair at the forefront and looked up as Judy nodded toward her.
Gen took a towel that was offered along with a bottle of water. Rubbing her forehead she unscrewed the bottle and sipped. Judy handed her the script as well and Gen sighed, “Alright. Is there any actual talking in the fight scene or is it just remembering the choreography?”
“I believe it’s just the choreography. No words from you at least until it’s all over,” Judy went through it for a few moments. “Well there’s lots of taunting but that’s about it.”
“Good. I want this thing to be over with already,” she said gruffly. She gripped the arms of the chair and absently squeezed them to the point that they bent.
Judy stared at her and ever since she came back the previous day something was different about her. And not in a good way. She reminded her of what she was last year. When she was one of those Dark Knights. And when she had been using. The anxiousness. The constant sense that she was distracted. Like she was phoning things in until her next fix.
She could also tell that something was bothering her. But Judy also knew that Gen wasn’t going to elaborate or explain what was bother her. So, she decided to focus on something else.
“Have you noticed the two extra people that are here among us?” she asked and pointed discreetly toward the edge of the group. “I don’t know who those two are both they’ve been pretending to not be watching you for over an hour.”
She looked over her shoulder and sure enough at the edge of the park that was blocked off for filming, was the pair of them. Alice, tall girl with her thick black hair and pale skin. She had her hands deep in the pockets of her jeans. She tried to pretend to mess with her hair but the intenseness of her gaze wasn’t lost on Gen despite her embarrassment when seen.
But the one beside her was strange. Wearing wraps around their head, goggles, and a hoodie with arms at their side. They looked like they were going to try and shoot up the place. But when she looked at them, she could feel the stone within them. Feel the familiarity not unlike what she felt toward the other girl.
“Who are they? They haven’t done anything but watch and I don’t think they’re dangerous but they give me strange vibes. Especially the one with the goggles.”
“They’re harmless,” Gen said turning around again. “Just ignore them. Once filming is done with, I’ll talk to them.”
“If you say so,” Judy frowned harder looking at the two of them again. “You’re being called.”
“Yeah I see them. Let’s get this over with,” she cracked her knuckles slowly. Taking another sip from her water she walked over to the field where the cameras and director were waiting.
Alice watched her go toward the shoot and her heartbeat quickened. Though it didn’t show on her face she was excited to watch her act. To watch her really go to work. She’d watched her movies dozens of times with Jenny but seeing it first hand was something else entirely.
Rizier however kept their eyes on the entire process confused, “So this is how your movies are made? With real people. That seems inefficient. Especially with computer technology.”
“Technology doesn’t capture things as well as they can be. The facial expressions. Their movements. There’s things the human body can’t do that computers can.”
“That sounds like it would be a hinderance not a boon,” Rizier stated.
She shook her head quickly, “It’s the opposite. Showing the limits of the body and then overcoming them. That’s what makes the story so interesting. Jenny is gonna be so jealous.”
Rizier nodded slowly processing her words. “I guess I can understand the merit to that. I would have to watch one of these to understand myself.”
She smiled, “We’ll show you one tonight maybe. We can all watch one.”
They began to reply when both theirs and Alice’s palms pulsed. They looked at their stones and then to the sky. They could see the light coming in from the atmosphere. “Something’s coming Alice,” Rizier said. “And I believe that it’s something more powerful than the last soldiers that Legion sent this way.”
“Yeah it is,” she said and looked over her shoulder at Gen as she acted. From what she could tell Gen hadn’t sensed it yet. “Let’s get ahead of it before it gets here.”
“I don’t believe we will be able to,” Rizier said. “It’s speeding up. Stopping it won’t be possible. We can only meet it when it lands.”
“Okay, let’s go to work Rizier! Astro Change!”
They raised their hands and their armor surged around their bodies. Rizier jumped into the air to intercept the shape but they were knocked off path the moment they connected. Alice turned and ran toward the set jumping over Gen as the shape crashed into her. The people were blown away by the explosion of force and Alice was winded.
The Legion soldier was about as tall as her and came down fist first. The armor was a little different than what she was used to seeing.. Splashes of yellow in the green. She saw the color combination and saw the symbols across the visor. “Astro Knight. Getting in the way again.”
“We chased you this far you parasite. We’re stopping you.”
“You will try and you will fail,” it struck again and an explosion blew them all away.
The Harlequin Library 