A/N: So this is the story that won the most votes out of fourteen. This is going to be a challenge, but I think I can meet it. This chapter is gonna be short, think of this a pologue. I am really excited to kick this off, so I hope you like it!
Twin Times the Fun
Hannah's Not so Good Day
Hannah James heard a lot of cold words in her life. She had always been an outcast amongst her peers and the black sheep in the family. She was plain, shy, and had a gentle heart, but when did that ever get you anywhere in this world? She was extremely passive, making it easy for people to walk all over her. Her clothing wasn't much either. Wearing a faded brown dress suit she didn't stand out. Her long, curly brown hair, frizzy and uncontrollable was pulled into a low ponytail. A pair of thin wired glasses sat in front of large chocolate brown eyes that held kindness and sincerity, but no confidence or pride. She didn't wear any makeup or jewelry. She was just another nameless face in the crowd. A nameless face that stood before a mahogany desk, mouth slightly gapped in shock, eyes wide in fear of her future, all because of two simple words that would only make her life that much more difficult.
"W-What?" she stuttered.
"You're fired," the older woman said behind the desk said, her short cropped hair framing high cheek bones blushed pink and shadowed dark eyes, "You are nothing but a disturbance to my office."
"But Mrs. Winters, I'm just a secretary," she tried pathetically, "How am I a disturbance?"
A single silver eyebrow lifted in cold, mocking question. "How are you a disturbance, you ask?" she leaned back in her leather chair and chewed on her pen. "You come to work looking like…that and you don't expect to be a disturbance. I mean, come on, dear, when was the last time you hand your eyebrows waxed."
Out of pure reaction she ran a finger over one of her eyebrows. So they were a little bushy, who cares? It shouldn't affect other people in the work place. It was her personal business what her eyebrows looked like.
"And your wardrobe!" she said in aghast, "Always two sizes to big! You're a mess, my dear, and I can't have a mess working in my office."
She wanted to scream. She wanted to tell the old hag to go to Hell, but she couldn't. Mouth snapped shut she turned on her heel and walked away. Gathering the things on her desk, Ms. Winters made it clear that she wanted her out ASAP. She didn't have much. She only had two photos. One was a picture of her cat Botchy and the other was a picture of her and her mother when she was a little girl. The woman had a bottle of Jack in her hand, but it was the only picture Hannah had that he mother was smiling in and not passed out on the bathroom floor.
She managed to fit everything into one box. Walking for the door, she had no dignity. Head bowed as she tried to hold back tears she ignored the hushed whispers from her former co-workers as she headed for the elevator. Standing in the confined space she hammered the lobby button until the doors shut. She still couldn't let herself cry knowing that Stan, the security guard, was manning the cameras. She would at least not let that pig have the pleasure of seeing her at her weakest.
Bolting across the lobby she shot passed everyone there until she went through the rear exit to the parking lot. Climbing into her rusty Chevy Cavalier she dropped her box in the passenger seat, tore of her glasses and released the most horrible sound a human can make. Mixed between sobbing and sounding like a dying animal she let her head drop against the steering wheel, only for her head to snap back when the horn blared. As if confused for a moment she stared at her steering wheel before releasing that same horrible cry again.
She made it back to her studio apartment in fifteen minutes. Living a tougher portion of New Jersey she had her rims stolen twice and her car radios stolen three times. She gave up on having one since she was sick of replacing broken windows. Locking her car she rushed into her apartment, mostly terrified that the gang of boys usually hanging outside her apartment complex would harass her again. Last time she had a run in with them she was lucky that some 'noble citizen' threw a beer bottle out the window at them, because they were too loud.
She didn't wait for the elevator since it was most likely broken again, vouching for the stairs instead. She noted the new graffiti on the wall on the second floor staircase. We have a new artist in town, ladies and gentlemen, she though sarcastically, Carl is gonna love that. Carl Siers was the landlord of this fine facility she paid five-ninety-five a month for with no free utilities. How she was going to pay that now without a job was an issue she would soon have to address.
She fought another wave of tears at the thought and just continued her way to the fourth floor. Opening the door she was immediately greeted by a small black and white feline, not even a year old yet. She found Botchy playing in a dumpster when he hardly had his eyes open. The poor little guy got stuck so she climbed in and got him out taking him home with her. He was pretty darn smart and her one of her only true friends in the world and she was pretty sure he felt the same way. After all, she's the one who fed him.
"Hey, kitty!" she greeted. Dropping her box on the counter she knelt down in exchange for the purring kitten who thrived on the attention. "How was your day? Mine? It was pretty crappy."
Plopping a seat on her couch/bed she didn't have a TV since she really couldn't afford one. She couldn't afford a cat either, but he pretty much ate what she did and that only left her to get him a litter box and his shots. She ended up falling asleep on the couch. Botchy, deciding she wasn't good company anymore since she was stroking his back hopped onto the floor and wandered off. It was surprising that she actually fell asleep. Waiting on Mrs. Winters hand and foot the woman would some times call her in the middle of the night or extremely early in the morning to have errands run. Hannah never learned how to tell people no.
In school she was the one all the other kids threw paper balls at and teased endlessly. Her mother told her to ignore them. Her father had up and left one night without word when she was seven. He never wrote, called, and she didn't even know if the man was alive anymore. Growing up with an alcoholic mother only added to the strife of her childhood. She was probably one of the few five year olds that had to get herself up early in the morning to get ready for school and make her own breakfast, lunch and dinner. After high school she didn't go to college simply because she couldn't afford it, even with some scholarships and financial aid. Working for Mrs. Winters was heaven sent, even if the woman was a horrid hag, it was all she had. Part of her paycheck went to her Mother who was living on welfare already. Without a job she wouldn't be able to take care of herself or her Mom.
Suddenly, the small apartment shook, almost as though there was earthquake. Botchy hissed and darted under the couch. A loud crash and a flash of light outside tossed her to the ground in a crumpled, yelping heap. Just as she got herself to her feet a second crash knocked her down again. Groaning in misery she pushed herself up again more cautiously this time. When there were no more crashes she ran to the window, throwing the curtains apart.
"Oh, my God…" The parking lot was destroyed. Two huge craters, about thirty feet apart, had annihilated the concrete and the cars parked there…including hers. "This cannot be happening to me," she whispered softly, "It can't. God can't hate me that much."
But that wasn't even the best part, oh no. Something in the crater closest to the building moved. A tall figure, constructed of metal emerged, its glowing blue eyes scanning the area. Her hands on the curtains tightened. She wasn't sure if she really comprehended what she was seeing. Another robot-thing climbed out of the other crater and looked to the first. Together they assessed the damage and one looked, dare she think, a little sheepish at the sight. Its eyes shifted up, towards her room. It stared right at her.
Hannah snapped the curtains shut and cursed in a harsh whisper. Would they come after her? Would they hurt her? She didn't hear any foot steps coming towards her window so she assumed that it was safe to take a peek. Drawing the curtains apart a crack, one brown eye gazed out.
They were looking across the street to the office building that towered over the apartment building. She assumed that they were looking a Lamborghini behind a barbwire fence surrounding the building. She didn't know much about the man that owned it, but he obviously made enough money to have one, a flashy silver one. The robots stared at the car, but not for long before transforming into a red one and a yellow one. She probably resembled a gasping fish at this point, but the situation didn't exactly call for nerve.
As the sirens of police and fire trucks grew louder in the distance the two robots, disguised fancy-smancy sports cars, sped off into the street and away from the destroyed parking lot. Hannah blinked, dumbly, as she continued to stare out the window even when they were gone.
She was snapped out of her daydream by Botchy as he rubbed against her leg. Bending down she absent mindedly picked him up, stroking him as she watched the authorities stare at the damage. Would they figure out what did it? She couldn't even believe it herself and she saw them, but did anyone else?
She closed the curtains and returned to her couch/bed. Hopefully they wouldn't come up here and ask questions. She couldn't afford psychological help at this point she was in so much debt. She dropped her cat on the floor and pulled the couch out into a bed. Changing into a pair of sweats and a T-shirt she took off her glasses and turned off the lights she decided to clean up the mess tomorrow. Pulling the covers up to her chin she sighed heavily in the darkness, the only source of light coming from the red and blue flashes outside.
Botchy jumped up beside her and curled at her stomach like he always did. Hannah closed her eyes. Her alarm clock was already permanently set to six in the morning. She'd just have to get up and start looking for a job without a car. She just hoped that she'd never see those two Lamborghinis ever again. She lay there in silence for hours and never fell asleep. How could she after seeing what she just saw? She rolled onto her side and stared at the flashing lights outside her window. It was the most interesting thing to look at and it looked like they'd be there a little while longer so it gave her something to do.
"You know, that human female saw us."
"So?"
"Well, what if she rats on us?"
"Who'd believe her?"
"I dunno, but do you think it's a good idea just to leave her?"
"Yeah, I do. Do you're communications work? Mine are out."
"Um…no…My navigation system is damaged too."
"…Great."
"Doesn't yours work?"
"No."
"Well this pretty much sucks. Now what do we do? Ask for directions?"
"From who, you slaghead? We just can't go up to a human and ask how to get to Nevada from here. How did this even happen?"
"That ride in was a little bumpy. I think we hit something on the way in."
"Then we'll just have to make it up as we go. Their sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Tranquility, Nevada is west from here so we just have to head towards the sun."
"Okay, but I still don't see why we just can't ask for directions. Try the World Wide Web thing they got here."
"I can't. Can you?"
"Ah! No! Ratchet's gonna kill us."
"If we ever get there."
"Don't be so negative. Let's just ask for directions."
"I'm not asking for directions. I don't need them."
"What is with you and asking for directions?"
"We can get there without help."
"You're just being stubborn. I'm asking for directions whether you like it or not."
"Fine. Who you gonna ask? You go up to a human and they'll freak."
"Well, that female earlier already saw us. How about her?"
Short, but it got the point across right? I hoped you liked the beginning! Thanks for reading!
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