Countdown - Part 01

Downtown - Zone 73
The Rand Family Compound
17-11-2255. 1210L

They had gotten home around just after 6am not that it mattered given that everyone was still asleep or had already left for the day.

Exhausted from there night out Ming, as was typical , stripped down to nearly nothing and crashed in Twix's bed. Twix herself making sure to tuck her in and kissing her on the forehead before she decided to change and and get some work done before she herself crashed.

To be honest Twix felt bad for Ming. Her home life was in a word 'shit' her parents running the household like a virtual prison compound on top of already being way over-the-top control freaks. Truth be told they would have likely put an end to her and Ming's friendship years ago if not for the fact that both her and Ming's parents had agreed to an arranged contract of marriage when Ming and Twix were not even 5 years old. It was that same contract that kept Ming's parent's from kicking her out when they discovered that Ming had started the transition 3 years ago.

So long as Twix was willing to hold up her families side of the contract. Mings parents would do the same.That wasn't to say that it solved all Ming's problem's, it didn't by any stretch of the imagination but Ming endured the abuse and had sworn Twix to say nothing so there was little she could do to help beyond supporting her best friend as best she could.

Stripping down to just her panties Twix collected her favorite sweater from the back of the closet taking a moment to enjoy the freshly cleaned scent of it before throwing it on.

It was perhaps the ugliest sweater in creation that she had stolen from her Dad's closet when she was like 10 years old. A worn and faded brown in color with the words 'World Mud Wrestling Federation Championship 2225' stenciled on the back in faded bold letters and a stylized depiction of two women with impossibly big breasts wrestling in the muck on the front.

Ming hated it but the real hate for it came from Twix's mother who despised it with an unmatched passion.

Dad had explained to her once that it was because her Mom had won if for him in a contest when they were still dating and hated to be reminded of how drunk she'd gotten.

Still Twix had never found a sweater quite as comfortable and warm enough to wear when she was working in the Cold Room so she held onto it with iron grip and had even dug it out of the trash a few times after her mother had thought she could make it secretly disappear.

The things we do for love …

…

" Diva Online." Twix commanded as she switched the workroom lights on.

" Diva Online." The cycle responded.

"Command Access Diva." Twix sounded running the checklists in her head.

" Password please?" Diva requested.

" Cherry Pie."

"Command access confirmed, Systems ready." Diva sounded.

" Diva, Run diagnostics…" Twix commanded as she started pulling the tools and equipment from the work bench and placing them closer to the cycle.

" Diagnostics complete all systems Green." Diva responded

Twix pulled another heavy box from under a nearby table and carried to the cycle dropping it on the ground. " Diva Combat configuration, Prep for combat loads."

There was a series of sharp clicks as the passenger seat popped upwards and otherwise invisible panels opened to reveal slots for additional armored panels and weapon systems both offensive and defensive.

" Okay let's start with the reactive armor panels and than move to the 20mm Cannon and flares." Twix sounded off pulling the cannon from its box and then collecting the armored panel pieces.