l1ttle_billy | Rest Area on I-95, Wednesday Late Night/Thursday Early Morning

	Billy parked the van, and got out, looking around. "He should be here."
	Tori looked around, making sure she knew the surroundings. Hey, she liked being prepared, okay? "Anyone I know?" She was curious.
	"I doubt it. He's never been in Fandom as far as I know. Though I guess I wouldn't put it past him to show up to keep an eye on me without calling."
	"Just figured I'd ask, in case I did know him, somehow," Tori nodded, wondering when he'd show up.

	"...I should have brought a bazooka."
	"No, you shouldn't have," Anemone replied absently, reaching over to thwap his shoulder as she watched the other members of their posse. This was going to be fun! "Play nice."
	"I am playing nice. I'd let people take turns with it," he promised. He poked her in the knee. "You all weaponed out? I have extras if you need 'em," he said, trying to glance around and look for...people or tanks or anything hostile.
	"Let's just say that if you tried to feel me up, you might get a nasty surprise," she joked, pulling back her U.F. Force jacket enough for him to see her sidearm. "Look what Captain Jurgens let me bring back to school with me. I think I finally convinced him that if I've been killing people since I was ten, I can be trusted with my own gun. I'm not going to shoot anything accidentally."
	"Oooh, because most of the time when I try to feel you up, it's a pleasant surprise," he said, relaxing a lot. Good. She's armed. One less thing to worry about. "You want one for the other side, balance you out? Knife? Grenade?" He was joking now, still tense.
	"John, I'm fine, calm down." Anemone sighed and reached over to playfully tap his nose. "You're making it hard to concentrate."
	"Sorry. Nervous. Not use to teamwork." He reached out to squeeze her leg. "Is this the part where I tell you to be safe and you get mad and call me patronizing and slash or proclaim that you can defend yourself?" he asked, squeezing her leg again. "Just want to make sure I'm doing it right. Don't want to miss out on the after-mission makeup makeout." He flashed her a quick grin before resuming his scanning.
	"I'm not exactly used to having a team either, you know. I may have been the leader of Ageha Squad, but most of my work was solo. Rather than waste LFOs against the Coralians, they'd just send TheEND. We could take care of it." Anemone absently lifted a hand to her neck, running a finger along the her receptor. "I'll be fine. Keep an eye on Billy? They'll probably target their attacks against him, not us. It's what I would do."
	"I'll need more eyes. I'd keep an eye out on the weaker members, or who look weaker. Pick off the perimeter, demoralize the targets." He noticed her rubbing but didn't say anything. His leg wound ached slightly. Stupid aliens. ...stupid aliens that weren't Skinnybutts.
	"He who?" John asked.
	"Well if Storm Shadow is my 'father' in the Arashikage clan, then this guy would be my uncle I guess. He's called Snake-Eyes."
	"You didn't tell me this was a family thing," John said dryly. He was joking. Really.
	"Only sort of. Actually that was going to be my excuse for going alone, but Adam wouldn't let me."
	"Backup is always a good thing to have. Great. Now I wish I did bring the bazooka."
	"...You have a bazooka?"
	"Doesn't everyone? I wouldn't bring the dress bazooka, just the everyday one. Really, everyone should have one."
	Billy snickered. Then; "Dude seriously you have a bazooka?"
	"Dude. Between me and my mom, we had a whole wall of lockers at the gun range. Of course I have a bazooka. Two. One's still in the box. Other one's got a bit of wear on it. They're harder to aim than you think, against a moving target." He shrugged. "Just be glad that Skinnybutt over there talked me out of mounting a machine gun on the truck." He jerked his thumb at the pink-haired girl with a grin.
	"It would have been a tad conspicuous." Billy nodded. "And I've tried aiming a bazooka at a moving target. Really, really hard."
	"Hey, it's just a large chrome hood ornament. Hell, there's enough engine room to mount two and have 'em fire through the grill. Brass is a problem, though. Have to mount an ejection tube so they drop out the bottom of the engine bay, but that's not too bad." "She really got annoyed when I mentioned the sunroof and rotating turret." It was possible this was untrue.
	"No machine gun!" Anemone hadn't even been paying attention to the boys, but her head swiveled around at that. "I mean it, Connor!"
	"Not even a little one? he asked, holding out a printed picture to Billy. "Makes a great hood ornament, sweetie."
	"Okay that's almost cute."
	"It is cute. And so practical. Really. I want a pair on each arm or something," he grinned, wickedly.
	"Careful or people I know in this world will offer you a job."
	"Are there job perks? Besides absurd amounts of firepower?"
	"Hmm, depends on which side you join."
	"Yeah. That's a problem. Sometimes I don't play well with the good guys.
	Sometimes? Anemone has trouble-radar. "Billy! Quit encouraging him!" she yelled, head whipping around again. "John Connor, no more guns! You have enough to arm a medium-sized African nation!" Muttering to herself about the idiocy of particular males, Anemone stomped off to go find Cassandra. At least someone in this group had some sense.

	Some people spent pre-mission time getting mentally prepared. Cassandra was always mentally prepared so she spent pre-mission time doing what she always did: stand around quietly and watch people.
	Fleeing from stupid boys, Anemone wandered over to Cassandra, dumping her bag on the ground to pull out her flight-suit and look at it consideringly. It was better armor than anything else she owned, but the bright orange leg was a pretty good target. Choices choices. "Dancing after this?" She flipped her braid back over her shoulder as she checked the suit for rips or tears. "We still haven't gone."
	"Oh," Cassandra brightened, "We should. We can treat this as a warm-up!"
	"Fighting, then maybe some ice cream, and dancing," she said gleefully. "Because you should always have sweets after a fight. I wonder if we can get Billy to stop for ice cream on the way?"
	"Before and after," Cassandra tried to sound horrified. It didn't work very well. "Isn't that a bit extreme?"
	"No, because I'm going to need energy if they expect me to run around hitting people," Anemone whispered, leaning in as if imparting a deep, dark secret. "Then? I need more ice cream to keep me distracted before dancing. Otherwise I might try and start a fight at a rest stop or something."
	"Well," Cassandra mused, "There is that." Then she grinned.
	Oh, that grin. Anemone knew that grin. It was one she usually used on other people. "What, you want to add a rest stop or bar to our return trip?" she asked, stretching. "Or is that the warm-up for the warm-up?"
	Cassandra shook her head, "We probably shouldn't. Besides, it'd mean less energy for dancing."
	"True." Anemone sulked for a moment before brightening up. "Where should we go dancing? Do you know if either of the places at school have decent music?"
	"I... don't know, actually." Cassandra hadn't been bar hopping since she got to Fandom. Or ever.
	Anemone's entire experience with 'going out' in this century (or any) are her one trip to Caritas and the places she's gone with John. Not a great overview. "Me neither."
	"Well... we can always experiment, right? Of find someone to show us the ropes?"

	Liz looked around at her surroundings as she waited.
	Adam checked out their surroundings, glad to see they had strength in numbers. He wasn't sure who was going to show up, but he'd been glad to see the turn out.

	Billy spotted him first. Or at least he thought he did. A silent, black clad figure dropped from the roof of the building. He had been crouched there like a gargoyle as the darkness of night gave way to dawn. "Guys, this is Snake-Eyes." Billy introduced him.
	John nodded at the new guy. From a distance. With all sorts of John-weapons in easy reach of the Connor.
	Snake-Eyes noted the amount of weaponry with approval. He was pleased that Billy had friends he could trust. Also friends he could trust that from the looks of things, could take care of themselves. He nodded back at John.
	Adam took note of Snake-Eyes, immediately noting that he looked like a formidable ally. He nodded and smiled ever so slightly in his direction. If Billy trusted him, then Adam would, too.
	Ah, the room mate. Scarlett had made Billy show them all pictures of people. He nodded back to Adam, his posture relaxed and cordial.
	"I guess I should say welcome," Adam smiled and shrugged ever so slightly. He knew having Snake-Eyes with them would be great help.
	Snake-Eyes smiled. Not that one would be able to tell that of course, and stuck out a hand. He wondered if Billy had actually told any of his friends that he couldn't speak.
	Tori eyes Snake-Eyes, taking in his appearance and stance. Hey, she was just covering her bases. "Hey," she greeted him, nodding slightly. Billy called him a friend and figuring he was trustworthy, Tori would too.
	Snake-Eyes was impressed. He'd heard Billy's stories of course, but the fact that he was able to assemble this many kids who looked perfectly capable of handling themselves that quickly? Oh, and then there went the sadness that here were kids, who for whatever reason had needed to learn how to handle themselves. No wonder Billy felt so at home at that school. He waved.
	Cassandra eyed him critically. Watching the way he stood and moved was terribly informative.
	Snake Eyes eyed her right back. She was the only one who seemed dressed for what they were about to do. Plus the way she held herself, she was clearly one of the more highly trained hand to hand-wise. Plus? Nice outfit. His own stance was one of relaxed alertness. One might sense that though he seemed at ease, he was ready for trouble at any time.
	After a long moment of examination, Cassandra nodded in approval. He'd do. She straightened slightly and offered him a short bow: clenched fist pressed into open palm.
	Impressed, Snake-Eyes bowed back. Not many kids these days seemed to know the traditions. He was pleased with the friends Billy had made. Also, he liked her outfit.
	She liked his too, except for all the gear he was carrying. Too much weight in her opinion. Her stance as she straightened again made that clear to anyone who knew what to look for.
	Snake-Eyes shrugged slightly. In addition to being a ninja, he was also a soldier. While he preferred to fight hand to hand, with few encumbrances, he would use a gun or a sword if he needed to. Okay he kinda liked the sword.
	Cassandra shrugged. People would do what they were comfortable with, and she could work with that.
	He was glad they were on the same page in that regard at least. The gun did make it harder to move silently, he'd admit.
	Anemone shifted slightly, unsure why she was so disconcerted by Billy's friend. It was the lack of being able to see his eyes, she decided. Even with an LFO, you could always see the targeting eyes watching you. Being unable to see his eyes made her nervous.
	Well he certainly hadn't intended to make anyone nervous. No one on his side anyway. But it wasn't an unusual reaction. He waved in what he hoped was a friendly manner. He wasn't a huge people person.
	Liz smiled and nodded at Snake-Eyes, "Hello," she said.
	Snake-Eyes nodded back, his posture friendly, but alert. And maybe a little tense. His sword brother was in danger after all.
	"Okay, everyone acquainted? Great, let's get going!" Snake Eyes jerked his thumb towards the field behind him where a black, army helicopter was just landing. This would get them there quicker.