"Gooood Morning!" WHAM! Vincent slams the off button on his dreadfully annoying alarm clock. "why can't these people be less 'peppy' in the morning." He muttered as he got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. This was a less than good morning for Vince, since he spent all of last night sitting at the bar of the "paradise" nightclub in town. He was not a very happy person.. He had the general outlook that the world was out to shut him down. He slowly mustered up the drive to go get himself a cup of coffee that he hoped would pull him out of this early morning drudge. The coffee was strong, and tasted awful. "cheap folgers shit" he thought to himself..but it worked, in less than five minutes he was moving at a much higher rate of speed. He managed to muster up the strength to go into his room to get changed for work. He went into his room, pushing open the dark cherry-ish wood door. The bed was already made, and his clothes were laid out on the bed. "Maids...what a wonderful thing." He thought to himself as he smiled and walked over to the bed. He picked up his black trousers up off the three thousand dollar bed sheets on his king sized bed. He then picked up his black button down shirt and proceeded to button it. After he buttoned it up every button except the last one, he stopped. He looked at himself in the mirror..the gold seam down the sides of both the legs on his pants, the four gold stars tacked onto the rank boards on his shoulders...and he thought to himself .. Was it really worth it? ... He shrugged his shoulders, buttoned the top button, and proceeded to put on his black tie. When he finished tying his tie, a task that he so hated, since he could never seem to get it right the first time.he proceeded to put on the dress black coat. which was covered in ribbons and medals. The ribbons spanning in rows of four, from the top of his upper right breast pocket to right before his appellants and rank boards. And the medals covered the flap of his pocket, and then stretched down the crease in the middle. He looked like the whole upper right side of his body had been dipped in sliver gold and other various colors. He then stopped, staring at the black service hat on his bed, the gold rim, the oak leaves on the brim,...was it really worth all those years? ... once again he shrugged, picked up his hat and placed it firmly on his head, pulling the brim down so that it just lightly touched the top of the small squarish lenses of his mirror reflective sunglasses. He looked at himself in the mirror, He looked so commanding, so powerful...so strong. He bowed his head, shaking it slightly form side to side, he sighed..and headed for the door. He took the elevator down to the heavily crowded lobby of his apartment building. The people were all very elegantly dressed, as was the custom of this day and age. He never really cared for it though, he felt as if it was way too much, since he had grown up in a more casual time. He made his way through the crowd, not once having to move out of a persons way, the people just seemed to make a path for him, as he walked with a quickness towards the front door of the building. He stepped out the door,and looked around at the vast, yet beautiful city that surrounded him. To any person from somewhere rural, this city would seem so intimidating, so confining, but to Vince..it was kind of like home. He looked around him, the flourishing palm trees on the islands in the middle of the asphault sea, that stretched as far as the eye could see. The beautiful blue-ish lights of the hundreds of skyscrapers cast a blue glow over the streets below. He turned his eyes down to the sidewalk, where sitting there looking curiously at him was a small black kitten. The kitten had fearlessly for some reason sat down right next to his left shoe. He smiled, bent down, and patted the kitten on the head, produced a cat treat, and went on his way. For some reason he always carried some animal snacks with him. Probably because he was raised around animals.like cats, and had a great deal of affection for them. He smiled and continued on his way. At some point during his encounter with the kitten, he decided that he was going to walk to work, instead of taking his car onto the heavily crowded streets of this mega city. He walked slowly down the semi crowded sidewalks towards the military base. The military had changed a lot since he had been at the academy. The uniforms changed, they became all black for the officers, and all gray for the non- comissioned and enlisted men. Vince was one of the more highly respected Generals in the service, for his experience, and his mannerism during action. He was always calm and cool, nothing ever seemed to bother him, he would lose a ship, and not even look angry. His composure in fact was one of the reasons that he was so unhappy. He felt as if he could not show his emotions to the world, so to relieve his stress, he would go out after work and get drunk to ease his pain. As he walked down the street, he notice a woman walking in his direction, she caught his attention. He watched he walk by, turning his head as she walked past. She looked back at him as she passed, obviously checking him out, he smiled, she smiled and kept on walking. He stopped, he was amazed by her, Her long black hair with the crimson streaks highlighted into her bangs. She wasn't dressed like everyone else, she wore a long black tight skirt, with long side slits, showing her beautiful legs. And her red turtle necked sweater, matched with the small oval shaped lenses on her mirror reflective sunglasses made her look devastatingly gorgeous. He shook his head, "damn" he mumbled to himself as he continued to walk towards the base. He arrived just a few minutes later at the security gates. "Morning sir. can I see your i.d. card." .. "Come on man.you know me.I shouldn't have to do this every damn day." He said laughing as he pulled out his I.d. card and handed it to the guard. " You're all clear sir..have a good one." " I will." Vince replied. The guard pressed the small blue button on the console he had in the booth, and the front gate opened. Vince walked in the gate, and headed for h.q. He walked past so many enlisted men on his way to h.q. , that by the time he had arrived, his arm was tired from all the salutes. He walked through the door, and removed his hat, his slightly spiked hair showing no sign of been even slightly damaged. The frosted tips of his hair seemed brighter under flourresecnt lights, It was this sort of thing that made the other enlisted men around him realize that he wasn't really that old, he was in all actuality about twenty seven. This surprisingly gave his men motivation, because they figured that if they worked hard enough they too could have that high a rank and be young enough to enjoy it. He walked up to the door of his office, stopping for a moment to read the gold plaque mounted on his door."Gen. V. Romero, First Battalion." He thought to himself..All those years and I didn't even find what I was searching for ... He turned away from his office door and walked out the double glass of the h.q. and headed for the air field. His major delema of his life at this time was the fact that the military had started retiring their upper echelon officers. The upper Echelon was the very first veritech Squadron, All of the pilots were made four star generals after the unit was retired, and since then each one of the officers except for him had been laid off. There was one man who transferred into one of the newer squadrons because he was told he would receive a promotion from second lieutenant to captain..so he took the job. His name was Bret Davis, he was always kind of a loose cannon, Vince remembered the time he accidentally destroyed the old base commanders Benz back in '10 because he accidentally triggered the m-gun instead of the brakes. But even despite of that he was one of the best they had ever seen. He could manuver a veritech in ways unlike anyone else. Vince smiled laughed for a second and then resumed on walking, heading in the direction of the hangers where his old veritech squadron was sitting under white sheets, collecting dust. He pushed open the door to the hanger just enough for him to gain entry, and he proceeded in. He walked to the first fighter, It belonged to Gen. (at the time Captain) Chavez. He remembered all the missions the two of them flew.. Covert missions into East-Asia, others into New India. He missed those days somewhat. He then walked to the next Fighter, It was Davis' jet, he laughed, and continued on, walking to the last jet in the far corner, It was his old VF-1S the jet black screamer responsible for so much destruction to so many enemy forces. He sighed, looking down at the hanger floor, He was the youngest of this group of pilots, being only 19 when he joined, the others being more around 30. Most of these men had since died, leaving him as the only surviving member present until the end of the fighter squadron de-commissioned. He sat down on the boarding ladder next to his jet, and sat there thinking. "Was it really worth all those years.all those near death experiences.just to find her.and end up failing anyways?" He remembered the true reason he joined the service.he was searching.searching for someone he lost when he was younger.someone he thought that by joining the service he would find. And in the end, he was no further along than he was when he started. A tear ran down his face from behind the sunglasses, he pulled himself up, straightened out his uniform, and walked out of the hanger, closing the door behind him. Vince looked down at the gold rolex on his wrist, six thirty.he could go home now.But what waited for him there.that's just it, there was nothing waiting for him at home.there was nobody to come home to, nobody to greet him with a warm embrace.he was alone. He decided to go out to his favorite club, and try to wash the feelings of sorrow away. And putting on a straight face he walked towards the security booth at the entrance gate. The guard opened the gate, "have a nice night sir" the guard said happily. "thanks.I'll sure try" Vince replied as he walked past the booth and headed down the sidewalk towards the club. The city was stunning at night, the trees that lined the side walk were all lit with small Italian lights strung elegantly, following every branch on the tree. And the cafes and restaraunts had placed tables and chairs out along the sidewalk, so people could sit outside and enjoy the always beautiful weather the city had. There was so much life in the city at night, It was almost amazing to Vince.It struck him as strange. He saw the same scenery that night that he had seen every night before, but for some reason it was different. He felt small shreds of the feeling he used to get when he was with his old girlfriend, The same girl he had spent the past six years searching for. He had lost her when she moved out of the country to Europe, then Asia, and so on.He tried so hard to find her, he literally searched the world.but he never found her. He finally arrived at the club, the line to get in was longer than usual, but since everyone there knew him so well, he just walked around the line, past the bouncers and into the club. Most of the bouncers there were so afraid of him, after the time he put one of them through a wall that they didn't even say hello to him anymore. He took his hat off, and sat down at his usual spot at the bar. The stool was placed in the corner of the club at the far end of the bar. It was sort of a place where nobody would notice him, and where he could be alone with his thoughts and pain. He was a very depressed person. He always had sort of a look of desperation in his eyes, like he was so close to something, but just couldn't have it. Sometime he would sit there with his head in his hands, crying. He was so lost inside. He felt a little out of place in the club tonight. The club was full of 17 to 19 year old kids, some people around his age, but not many, so there were a lot of open seats at the bar. The bartender there was a kind of sedate 23 year old girl with long blond hair that she always kept tied up in a pony tail, and her leather pants. She always wore them, Vince never really understood why, but he didn't give it a second thought after that. Since there wasn't much for her to do, she decided to walk over and talk to Vince. He was sitting there rolling his beer bottle around on the bottom rim, looking blankly at the counter top. "What's wrong Soldier?" she said laughingly. She smiled, "no really, what's goin on, you sit in the same spot every night and you always look so sad." Vince looked around, laughed a bit, and replied, "You know.you are the only person in the entire time I've been coming here that has ever said anything to me." He looked at her eyes, they were a clear blue, they were really nice, it had been years since he had ever really looked at a persons eyes. "Let me get you a drink, on the house." She said, "that'd be nice." Vince replied. She returned a minute later with two beers, she opened one and gave it to him, then she walked out from behind the bar over to the stool next to him, and sat down. "So tell me what's going on up inside that head of yours" she said, looking at him. " I'm.." he started, paused for a moment, and continued, "I'm..really lonely, I've spent the past six years searching for the woman I lost, the woman I loved more than life itself, and I haven't found her, and I'm getting tired of all this pain." She sat there staring at him for a moment, "wow" she replied, "I wish I had some guy looking for me..but six years..that's such a long time, it's understandable that you're lonely, you've been alone for six years.I sure couldn't do that." Vince looked at her and smiled slightly, "Thank you" he said softly. "anytime" she replied. "by the way.." she started. "my names Angela" she extended her hand to him, "Vince..Vincent Romero.just call me Vince" She laughed "sorry, that was a little confusing even to me" Vince said laughingly. "nice to meet you" she said as she looked into his eyes for the first time. She was amazed, their crystal clarity, Such a strong beautiful blue, but they seemed so fragile, she was almost entranced by them. She finally let his hand go, and turned to look out on the dance floor. All the couples were dancing cause the d.j. had started playing slow songs. "thanks for the drink Angela" vince said as he stood up putting his hat on. " where are you going?" she inqured. "I'm leaving.I can't stand watching this." He said, looking in the direction of the dance floor. Angela started to say something, but before she could finish, Vince was already out the door. She sighed, Looked at her watch, one o' clock a.m. she looked towards the door that vince had just walked out of, "Why not" she thought to herself. She stood up, reached over the counter, picked up her coat, threw it on and ran out the door. She got outside and stopped, she looked around, searching for him. She spotted him walking along the lake down the street, and she rang towards him. "Vince!" She shouted. He stopped, and turned around. She ran up to him, and trying to catch her breath, "I...huff huff ..Do you.. Wanna go somewhere where we can talk?" she said. " .sure." vince replied, " let's go to my place, I think it's probably closer." "ok" she said cheerfully. The two of them walked off towards vince's apartment building. About five minutes later they arrived at the steps of the building, "you live here?!" Angela said with an astonished tone in her voice. " yep" vince replied, and the two of them walked up the steps and went inside the building. When they entered into the lobby, everyone inside stopped, looking at Angela, "vince. ..why is everybody here looking at me?" She said with a frightened tone in her voice.

"don't worry" vince said, "take my arm, you'll be ok." She took his arm, gripping it tightly.so tightly that it actually hurt. He put his other hand on her hand, to re-assure her, and it worked, her grip loosened. They walked over to the elevator, vince pulled out a card, and swiped it in an access slot, and entered a pin number. The elevator doors opened and the two got on. "Top floor" vince said in a commanding tone to the elevator. Yes sir the elevator responded. Angela laughed, she had never seen, nor was used to such luxury, and it seemed humuros to her. They got off on the top floor, but what amazed Angela the most was that Vince had the whole top floor to himself, The whole top floor was one big apartment. "wow, This apartment is huge!" She said. "thanks" vince said, smiling as he walked towards the kitchen, he went into the fridge and pulled out a couple bottles of the only drink he had.. "is IBC Root Beer ok?" he said. "Is It!" she replied, That drink was kind of hard to come by in this day and age, so she really appreciated it. He pulled off one or the bottle caps, and set it down on the counter. "how did you do that?" She asked with a stunned tone, "bottle caps now days, you need a opener to do it." Vince responded, "these just twist off..you try." He handed her the bottle. She put her hand around the cap and twisted, and the top popped right off. "cool!" she said laughingly. Vince smiled. The two proceeded to sit down on a couch in the living room, which was next to the window, and had an unbelieveable view. "wow, this is so beautiful" she said softly. "Its alright" Vince replied with a cold tone to his voice. "it would be better if I had someone to share it with." He said. "you have me.for now" Angela replied, putting her hand on top of his. He looked over at her quite surprised by what she had said, and by what she had done. She slowly leaned over, and their lips met. They stayed like that for a moment. Then vince pushed her away, "no" he said " I can't do this.I'm sorry, but I think you should go." He stood up, She followed, " we can still be friends..right?" she said meekly. "of course" vince replied, "but I think that's all we should be." She smiled, picked up her coat, "bye Vince, see you tomorrow night." " bye angela..oh!..thanks for the drink." He said "no problem, anything for a friend." She replied. The elevator closed the doors behind her, and she started to cry as she walked off the elevator and out of the building. "Did I Do the right thing?" vince thought to himself as he looked out the window.