Edward's p.o.v
*Beep beep beep beep beep.....* I groaned and slammed my fist on my alarm clock and finally managed to make it shut up. I woke up with a yawn and groggily got up. I blinked blurrily and turned around to read the time on my alarm clock.
8:30
Why the heck was I awake so early on a Sunday? My eyes strayed to my tools and the answer came back to me. Right, I was going to check my new home out and see if I can find some place to work my inventions on. Sure, I've got a room and all but it could only do so much. I need a place to test it, a place where it could handle things that go boom. Or splat. Or thunk. Or crash.......you get the point.
I got up from the comfy and warm bed and entered the bathroom. I washed up, got dressed and went out of my room. I passed by my sister's room and could tell that she was still wandering in dreamland. Now, I know that most big brothers would more often than not, try to wake their siblings up at godly hours on weekends to annoy the heck outta them but I wasn't most of them. Waking that girl up is like asking a workaholic to not drink coffee for a month.
I made my way downstairs and the smell of bacon and toast hit my nostrils. "Mornin' bedhead." Aunt Selina said as she put two pieces of toast on a plate.
"Morning Aunt." I replied back as I spread some jam on my toast. There were different toppings spread out on the dining table such as butter, cheese and jam with strips of bacon and a plate of eggs on another.
I poured myself a cup of orange juice and coffee. My Aunt raised an eyebrow at the latter choice of beverage. "Coffee? You're drinking that already?" she asked me as she took a sip from a mug of coffee herself.
"I've been drinking it for three years." I deadpanned as I took a deep sip from the rejuvenating drink. Whoever invented coffee was a bonafide genius in my book.
"So, what're your plans for today?" Aunt Selina asked.
"I was thinking that maybe I should go around town and get used to it. At the same time look for a place to use as my lab." I told her and took a bite out of my toast.
"Alright, be careful. You're new here and this town has a few hooligans and troublemakers too. If worse comes to worse, you know what to do." She told me and gave me a stern and meaningful look to let me know that she wasn't joking now.
"I will." I replied. I finished off the last of my breakfast and got up. I washed my own dishes; a habit mother drilled into me, and went back to my room to grab a few things.
I opened the door and couldn't help but briefly take in my new room again. After we came back yesterday, I decided to do my unpacking and a bit of redecorating. The walls now had schematics and plans and blueprints and sketches for other inventions on it and the shelves and drawers now had my notebooks, journals, spare paper and other stationery in it. My clothes were in the cabinet and the bed sheets were orange and black with grey pillows.
Of course, there were also a few pictures and posters put up in the room to brighten it up a bit. Some personal pictures like pictures of me and my sister with our family were there too. On the table however, my most treasured picture was there, a picture of me laughing and smiling happily while sitting on top of the shoulders of my....my..........nevermind. No need to go there.
I grabbed my tool kit and filled it with other stuff I'd need like my phone charger, pen and notebook. I also put my bandolier on. I know my cargo pants already have spare pockets and all but the bandolier was for something else I need besides coffee....Pocky.
What? I love those snacks, they keep me going. Plus it was also used to store other smaller things like a stray screw or something. The bandolier also doubled as a tool belt of sorts since I could put a wrench or screwdriver on it too.
After grabbing everything I needed, I went back down. On the way down, I bumped into Evelyn who was now awake. "Morning Ed." She said.
"Mornin sleepyhead." I replied. Evelyn sat down at the table as I reached out for the door handle. "Going lab hunting?" she asked me.
"Yes, I'll be back before lunch." I told her.
"Can I come along? Please?" she asked me.
"Why? What's the point? You're more likely to get bored." I told her. She finished off her toast in three bites and swallowed.
"I've got no plans today and Miko is out with friends so I'll be bored either way. At least I'll be doing something and going out." Evelyn pointed out as she took her dishes to the sink. "Pweeeeeeeez?" she begged me and gave me her best puppy dog eyes.
I sighed. If there's anything I know about my sister, she was damn persistent and as stubborn as a mule. "Fine." I told her and no, I did not agree because of the puppy dog eyes. Those things have lost its effect on me years ago and I am proud to say that I am immune to them.
"Yes!" she cheered and took care of the dishes in record time. I rolled my eyes but smiled a little as I grabbed a Pocky out of my bandolier and stuck it in my mouth.
"Hurry up and get your arse over here, let's go and try to make it back before lunch." I told her before she went off to get her stuff.
Evelyn's p.o.v
After I grabbed my phone and stuff and slung my flute case over my shoulder, Ed and I went out of the house and went lab hunting. This isn't the first time we've had to do something like this. Back home in England, his inventions were sometimes a bit too rough for our parents so they asked him to do it outdoors. Unfortunately that backfired when one of Ed's other prototype invention set our mother's second favourite flower bed on fire. On the bright side, it wasn't her most favourite one. On the bad side, they decided that it was honestly too dangerous for some of his inventions so testing them within home perimeters was banned.
Still, inventing things was my brother's passion second to computer stuff so we decided to look for a safe testing area or rather, a 'lab'.
We set up his laboratory in an abandoned house that wasn't that far from out home. It was pretty small and old so no one seemed to bother it. Which made it the perfect place.Our parents agreed after they checked and saw that the place was stable and usable.
And so, that was Ed's first lab. Sometimes he would look for bigger and more spacious ones and move out. Other times, people would complain and ask him to either move on or get kicked out, the jerks. So far, he's had six labs over the years.
And now, here we were walking through the streets of Jasper, Nevada looking for his seventh lab.
"So, where to captain?" I asked him. Ed thought about it for a while then came to a decision.
"Maybe we'll look for an abandoned house or building if possible. If we can't find anything then I suppose we'll have to go outside city boundaries to more open areas." Ed said.
"I rather it be in the city if possible." I told him.
"Why?" Ed asked me.
"It's closer to the fire brigade." I told him with a straight face. For once, I honestly wasn't joking.
"Seriously? Do you have that little faith in me? I'm offended." He told me.
"What? I rather be safe than sorry. I do not want history to repeat itself thank you very much." I replied.
"It was only one time! And it happened years ago." He told me.
"It was three months ago, Edward." I told him with a straight face. I had a brief flashback to that day three months ago, the day I labelled as 'Backfired.'
Flashback:
"What are you building again?" I asked Ed as he stood over a bulky shield of sorts.
"I'm building a fire repelling shield. It shifts the air molecules, which are also in fire and projects it-"
"Ok ok, it's a shield to push fire back. I don't need you to go all Einstein on me." I cut him off before he could go on a long scientific complex explanation or rant in my book.
My brother took a welding torch and sealed it off before taking the mask off. "Done!" he said triumphantly.
"Are you sure this'll work?" I asked him uncertainly. I loved thrill and adventure and all but I wasn't mad thank you very much.
"Positive." Ed told me.
"Have you tested it?" I asked him.
"Not this one, no. Hopefully it'll be successful unlike the others." He said.
I blinked. "What others?" I asked him.
Ed pointed towards a pile of shields similar to the one he was holding. Except the shields were burnt, mangled or twisted and disfigured like those abstract art statues....or all of the above.
"You sure this is a good idea? I mean, I do not want a BBQ as a brother you know." I said. Ed rolled his eyes heavenward.
"Aw c'mon, I thought you were the risk taker, always looking for thrills and all." He told me.
"Looking for thrills and looking for death are two entirely different things Mr. Know-It-All." I retorted.
"Look, don't worry, it has half a dozen layers of mineral wool and glass wool and even a thin layer of Kevlar and refractories. The device I put in it is meant to release a cooling system of sorts and it'll release a gust of wind like a fan and blow the fire back. It'll work, trust me, I've done the math." Ed reassured me.
"That gives me even more reason to not trust this." I said. "Oh well, might as well give it a shot. But if this fails....." I told him.
"We run like blazes and get help or use the extinguishers. No pun intended." He said as he put on a jumpsuit and a pair of gloves made from the same fireproof material and a mask of sorts for protection.
I put on a matching outfit and picked up the detonator. The detonator was wired to a flame thrower that we were going to use to test it out on. I walked over and switched on a camera. Ed liked to record his test runs.
"Is it rolling?" he asked me.
"Yup." I replied. "Everything in place?" I asked him.
"Yes." He replied. "Let's do this." He said.
I picked up a sign that said 'TEST 1: BLAZE COVER 20.2' and held it in front of the camera and moved away.
Ed went into a stance and held the shield up, he reminded me of those scenes in movies when a guy with a shield was goanna meet an attack head on, the shield covered his entire body. There was a piece of glass at the area where the head was and the only things exposed were his feet.
"Ready! Fire it up!" he told me. I pressed the detonator and the blowtorch came to life as it released a gust of mighty fire like a dragon.
The fire smacked into the shield. Even though I was a safe distance away and was hiding behind a barricade of sorts for protection, the small bits of exposed skin on me could feel the heat come over it. If it weren't for the suit and mask, I'd be toast. Pun not intended....maybe.
"Hell yes!" Ed said triumphantly. "I told you it would work!" he said grinning ear to ear from behind the shield. I risk peeking up and saw that he was, in fact, alright. The shield was a bit blackish but overall perfectly fine.
"Time to crank this up a notch!" he said before he adjusted something on the shield. I stood up so I could see better and gasped when I saw that the shield was in fact, deflecting the fire. There was an air vacuum of sorts there in front of it.
"Turn it up a bit, Eve!" he shouted to me over the roar of fire. I cranked up the fire and it increased. Despite wearing the suit and all, I was starting to feel sweat form under it.
"Ed, maybe you should stop." I told him. He seemed to think and came to a decision.
"Ok, we'll stop here for now." He said. "Let me just turn this down...."
However, in all the excitement and happiness of his success, Ed turned the dial the wrong way. He noticed it too late as the fire was deflected even more until the fire was only a few feet away from the blowtorch itself.
"Crud! Eve take cover!" he yelled. He didn't need to convince me. I had already dived back the barricade.
There was a 'floom' as the flame bounced off the shield and ricocheted around the room. Ed yelped and covered himself with the shield as the flame sailed a hand's breath away from his head.
The flame eventually landed on a section of the roof that had the insides, which were made out of wood, exposed. It didn't take long for the flames to lick the wood and begin to set it on fire. In the blink of an eye, the fire had spread.
"Holy crud holy crud holy cruuuuud!" Ed said as him and I grabbed the fire extinguishers. "Take care of the fires!" "I know already!" "Over there!" "I knew we shouldn't have done this!" "Ok, I get it!" "I told yo-" "Shut up and help me!"
"Wait the camer- *duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut* *static*"
Soon we were standing outside with our clothes and hair slightly singed. We were panting and I was still holding onto the fire extinguisher while Ed held onto the camera. In the background, the roof of the 'lab' still had some smoke rising from it.
"Well, I...guess that was a success." He said.
I looked at him and didn't even bother to hide my sarcasm. "Yeah, that backfired though, literally." I told him.
For once he simply nodded.
Flashback End
Ed was silent for a while after that. "Alright, I'll admit, that wasn't the brightest chapter in my life." He said. I snorted. He could say that again.
"But, you do know where to start right?" I ask him. He nodded and took his phone out.
"Yes, I've looked up some abandoned places that seem promising. Especially this one." Ed said pointing to one of the bigger dots. I looked at it and saw that it was on the outskirts of town on the open desert.
"Are you sure about this? I mean, I don't mind and all but should you really have it that far from town?" I asked him.
"Aunt's home is only 30 minutes away, 20 if traffic is well. Besides, it's out in the open which means plenty of space and no distractions." Ed pointed out.
I shrugged. "Ok then, you're the boss." I told him. Then I noticed another dot that was as big as the other one. "What's this?"
Ed looked at it and shrugged. "Some kinda cave. I was considering going there just for fun and have a little look at it." He said.
"Can we go there first since its closer?" I asked him. I was honestly intrigued and wanted to check this cave out. Who knows what we might find there.
Ed thought about it and shrugged again. "Why not."
((Small Timeskip by chibi taxi driver))
No one's p.o.v
"Here we are." Edward said as they stood in front of the mouth of a cave.
Evelyn cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted "Hello?" Her voice echoed off the walls of the cave.
"Let me make this clear, if the cave gets too rocky, no pun intended, then we skedaddle. Got it? We're only here to have a quick look. If you want to come back fine, but next time it'll be with the proper gear, understand?" Edward asked his sister sternly.
Evelyn rolled her eyes at her brother. She knew that he was only doing this to protect her and all but she could take care of herself too. "Yes, dad." She said sarcastically before taking her phone out and turning on the flashlight app. With that, she entered the cave with Edward on her heels.
The cave was surprisingly bigger than they thought. But what caught Edward's attention were the walls. "Eve, look at the walls." He told her.
"The walls? Why?" she asked. Edward walked towards the walls and placed his hand against it. He rubbed it down and felt the smoothness of the rock. He flashed his light on the ground and noticed how they were small to none stalagmites.
"Wait, where are the stalagmites and stuff?" Evelyn asked Edward's question aloud.
"That's what I was asking myself." Edward said.
"And?" Evelyn pushed.
"I honestly don't know. But I do know this, someone has definitely been in here before." He said with certainty. "I mean, look at this, the walls are too smooth and there aren't any stalagmites. Unless this cave just sprung out of nowhere, that's got to raise a few eyebrows. A cave like this should have them, it's only natural." Edward explained.
"So you think someone used to live here or something?" Evelyn asked half joking and trying to not imagine nomads and cavemen.
Edward chewed his lip. "Maybe..." he muttered.
"If so, then why wasn't there some kinda sign? Or a note? And if this place did have people here once, where are they now? Having a lunch break and sipping tea with their mates?" Evelyn asked some more.
Edward sighed. "I don't know. Look, there are a lot of maybes' and what ifs' ok? For all we know, it's just us being paranoid." Edward told her. But what the brother and sister didn't admit was that they both had that gut feeling that told them there was more to this than they think.
They walked on for 20 more minutes until they reached a dead end. But as Edward shined his light around it in an arc, he realized it looked like a section of the cave collapsed rather than it being a typical dead end.
"You know, looking at this makes me imagine a wicked cool scene in one of those movies where there's a giant explosion that brings the place down. Hey, maybe that's what happened. Maybe there was a cave-in of sorts or some kinda accident that caused this place to shut down." Evelyn suggested and mentally gave herself a pat on the back for coming up with that theory.
"Maybe....." Edward muttered again. "I think it's best if we go. There's nothing to see here and we don't have all day to look for a lab. Let's go." Just as he turned around, the light of his phone glinted off something. He whipped his phone back and the light from his phone glinted off a piece of.....he looked closer. What was that?
"Eve, what's that?" he asked. Evelyn looked at the direction his light was at.
"Bit hard to tell with the light. Hey, maybe it's some kinda crystal." She suggested.
"Let's find out." Edward said. He grabbed a part of the....'thing' that was protruding out. His fingers made contact with cold slightly rusty but still smooth texture he was all too familiar with, metal.
He pulled. It didn't budge. 'Then again, it is buried under tons of rock.' He mused. He passed his phone to his sister. "Hold onto this for me, Eve." He told her and set both hands on the metal.
He gritted his teeth and propped one of his feet on the rock wall for extra help. He pulled and pushed his leg for extra momentum.
Why was he going through so much trouble for a stupid piece of metal? Edward didn't know. But...he had a gut feeling and he's learned that sometimes instincts are better than any amount of knowledge.
Little by little, the 'thing' began to budge. Edward was straining all his arm muscles at this point. 'Thank you kickboxing lessons.' He thought.
There was the rough sound of rock scraping against metal as the 'thing' finally came out. Facing no resistance, Edward nearly toppled back but regained his balance. He tucked his find under his arm and turned back to Evelyn.
"So, what is it?" she asked.
"It'll be easier if we're outside in the sun. It's too cramped and stuffy here, plus our phone lights will just reflect off it and hurt our eyes." Edward said as he took his phone back.
The duo made their way out of the cave and sat down under a nearby tree. Edward and Evelyn studied the piece of metal. Their eyes were immediately attracted to what seemed like some kinda logo on it.
The logo was scratched by the rock and the metal surrounding it must've gotten rusted by the natural elements but using after Edward fished a magnifying glass out of his bandolier, they could make out the logo more clearly.
The sharp and jagged shapes all more or less join together to what resembled a robot's head. It was pretty wicked in Evelyn's opinion.
"Someone has a good taste in art." She remarked and traced her finger on the sharp edges and corners of the logo. "Wonder who made it?"
"That's something I'd like to know myself." Edward replied. The two of them stared at the strange but cool symbol for a while. "Welp, sitting around all day isn't gonna help so let's get back to lab hunting." He said as he got up and dusted himself off. He tucked the metal piece with the robot logo under his arm and went off.
((Small Timeskip by chibi Edward mining))
"For the last time, no! This place is mine now! Got it?! There is no way in hell that I'm giving it over to two big-shot brats! Now get out!" the man yelled and slammed the door in Edward and Evelyn's faces.
"Well that went well." Evelyn said sarcastically.
They had come to an abandoned house and decided to check it out. Only to realize that it was occupied. When they entered, they found a homeless man sleeping on a half-broken couch covered in a bunch of newspapers and wearing nothing but a stained t-shirt and a pair of ripped khakis and a stained coat that was too big for him. He was a wiry man and he smelled as though he hasn't had a shower in god knows how long. His hair was unkempt and greasy and he reeked of alcohol. The bottle he was holding loosely in one hand and the redness of his face told them everything.
They didn't know if it was some kind of unintentional noise or if the homeless man had sharper senses but he suddenly jolted awake and saw Evelyn and Edward.
"Whaddaya brats doin' here?!" he had demanded his words slurred. Edward had tried to explain the situation but the man either didn't understand or listen. Before he could even open his mouth, the man had not so gently shoved them out.
"Well good day to you too, sunshine." Edward said as he straightened his flannel shirt.
"God his breath stinks even more than the cat's." Evelyn said as she waved her hand in front of her as though it would dispel the stink of his breath.
The brother and sister went back home slightly dejected and disappointed. All the places they checked out were either already owned, unstable or fenced off to be taken down.
They entered the house and saw Aunt Selina lounging on the couch watching TV. She turned her head around as she heard the door creak open. "Back so soon?" she asked.
"All the places are unusable." Edward said getting straight to the point. "I guess I'll have to find some kind of open field. A place like Jasper, Nevada should have tons of those."
"Or you could use the abandoned barn nearby." Aunt Selina suggested.
"Yeah, sure. Wait, what?" Edward asked.
"What abandoned barn?" Evelyn asked just as confused. She went over to the fridge and took a juice box out.
Aunt Selina smiled and got up from the couch. She went over to one of the drawers and pulled a map of Jasper, Nevada out. She walked over to the table and spread it out. Evelyn and Edward stood on either side of her to get a look.
"We're here, right?" Edward said pointing at a small red pentagon.
"Yes, Edward. Not bad." Aunt Selina said.
"What's this spot?" Evelyn asked as she pointed to a dot that had the letters OAB on it. "And what does OAB stand for?"
Aunt Selina grinned. "Old Abandoned Barn." She said. "It's used to belong to some old guy named Old Bob but he passed away a few years ago. Pity, he used to give good milk and oatmeal to the kids in the neighborhood. Anyways, he passed away and had no family or relatives so the barn was left abandoned and forgotten over the years." She explained.
"Why are you telling us this?" Edward asked though he had an inkling of where this was going.
"It's the perfect spot for your experiments and tests." Aunt Selina said.
But Evelyn pointed out a major flaw. "How do we get in? Won't it be fenced off or locked up?" she asked.
"Right, pity we don't have the keys, oh wait." She took a key out of her pocket. "We do." She said with a smirk.
"How did you get that?" Edward asked suspiciously.
"Old Bob gave it to me, said it's to return the favor." Aunt Selina replied and answered before they could ask. "When I was just beginning my career, I stopped a gang from robbing him and another time stopped a break-in at his barn. Guess he thought he owed me one. So he gave me this key two years before he passed."
"Oh." The brother and sister said.
Then Edward realized something. "Wait, why are you only telling us this now?" he asked.
"It would've saved us bucket loads of trouble if you had." Evelyn chimed in as she finished her juice.
Edward looked back at the map and his eyes widened. "Actually, you're wrong, Eve." he told her. Evelyn looked at him in confusion.
Edward fished his phone out and showed me the big dot on his GPS map. I looked at the location and looked back at the map only to realize that they were the same place! "Why didn't we go again?" Evelyn asked him.
"You're the one who said you wanted one near the town. Besides, I couldn't have gone there either way without the key which someone didn't tell me they had." Edward said looking at Aunt Selina pointedly.
Aunt Selina rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I couldn't find the key. Turns out it was in a tear in my bag this whole time." She admitted. "Oh yeah, there's also a package for the two of you."
"What package?" the two of them asked at the same time.
"Well, packages I guess." she said adding the 's'. "From your folks back in England. I left them in the garage. They were pretty heavy." Aunt Selina told them. Evelyn tossed the now empty juice box into the rubbish bin and went to the garage with Edward.
Evelyn's p.o.v
Ed and I went into the garage and like Aunt Selina said, there were two big boxes there in the garage. One was smaller and flatter then the other. Each had a name tag attached to it. The flatter smaller package had Ed's name on it while the bigger more square like one had my name on it.
There was a note on Ed's box. He took it off and read what it said aloud.
"Dear Edward and Evelyn, I hope the two of you are well. With Aunt Selina's job and minimum amount of transportation, we sent these over to ease that problem. Hope you enjoy your stay in Jasper, Nevada. Study hard and stay well. Hope to hear from you soon. Love, Mother and Father." He read. "It's only been two days." He deadpanned.
"At least they sent the packages over." I said as I began to open the box. Before leaving, Ed and I knew that transportation might become a bit of an issue and arranging for others to pick us up sounded troublesome so we sent these to Jasper, Nevada.
I opened the box and had to push aside the small pieces of styroform took out the object that was wrapped in tame and bubble wrap for protection. I unwrapped it to reveal a blue metal contraption of wires and a pair of rubber handles.
I set it on the floor and began to unfold it to reveal my favourite blue electric bike, Bolt. Yes, I named it so sue me.
"No way....heck yes." Ed said. I turned around to see him holding up his signature electric skateboard.
I smiled. He always loved riding that skateboard, except for the fact that he once tried to add boosters to make it go faster only for it to crash and go kerblooey. That was one of the many not-so-bright chapters in his life of innovation.
"Never thought Father would actually bother finding time to fix it." I couldn't help but blurt out. Most of the time, Father would be too busy with his 'more important projects' or 'meetings' to help Ed out with his own.
"Exactly what I was thinking. Woah, they even came with the helmets and everything." Ed said as he took a helmet out of the box. I looked inside my box to see a matching blue helmet complete with knee and elbow pads wrapped up.
After unwrapping the gear and getting rid of the trash, I got up and dusted myself off.
"Ok then Mr. Daredevil, we gonna hit the road and look for the barn now or what?" I asked him. Ed looked at me and smirked.
"Race you there? Loser buys the winner snacks." He challenged.
I smirked back and put the helmet on. "Don't come crying when your wallet's empty." I told him.