And You And I

S232(U15): Interlude: Move me onto any black square, use me anytime you want

Author's note:

Right, onto the second chapter of this update. Before we begin, I need to inform you all of a slight change I have made in regards to the forename of the good Captain. When I first created the character of Captain Brooks, I had little intention of her being seen beyond the initial scene she appeared in and perhaps in a small capacity while Shego was in jail. And so when I needed to use her forename, I simply named her after one of the characters in my novel Ensnared, as the two characters share some similar traits. However, the more I wrote the good Captain, the more I came to love her as a character. I was not the only one and after many long conversations with Celioxa, we decided that she needed a story of her own and so I started to create a backstory for this new version of the character and became even more attached to her. However, while I had intended to keep the two characters as separate entities, that has since become difficult to do in my head, as a lot of what I have written about the newer version has started seeping into the original version. Thus, I feel that the only correct thing to do, from my point of view, is to change the name of the version that appears in And You And I to that of the new version, as I feel that the character deserves to have her own name, not just one I gave her because she has similar traits to one of my other characters. What is this name? Read on to find out.

As for the chapter title this time, it is a lyric from the Yes song I've seen all good people.

Enjoy

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Hillton. A relatively small, albeit modern town and part of the tri-town area in Wyoming, had all the markings of the new suburbs that had popped up over the past fifty years. One high school, hospital, police station and shopping hub, perfect for a conservative community that did not foster divergence. Naturally, as was seemingly the way of such places, it also had a singular fast-food joint to which the majority of the high school students used as a place to hang out. In the case of Hillton, a Buenisimo Tortilla.

Next door to this fast-food restaurant of questionable origin, sat your typical suburban park. Trees, children's play area consisting of swings, climbing frame, slide and roundabout, benches dotted about in random places and, a set of stone tables, atop which the black and white squares of a checkerboard had been embossed. And on a warm summer's day like today, all were in use to some extent. However, it was at one of the checkerboards that the most interesting thing would occur.

At the far end of a row of five identical sets of tables and chairs, under the shadow of a large oak tree, two women sat, a set of unremarkable plastic chess pieces occupying the board. The board adjacent to them was currently unoccupied. The first woman, playing as black and who wore a pair of skinny blue denim jeans and a red shirt, sat with a stony look of concentration on her face. After a moment, she moved her right hand, hovered it over her sole castle and hesitated. Her eyes roved over the board, checking and double-checking to ensure she had not overlooked something. She'll move the knight to block the castle, allowing my bishop to advance an extra square, placing the king in check. The king will then have to move towards the corner, allowing my castle to freely take the knight and pinning it to the back row. My second bishop can then move one more square and that will be that; checkmate. She moved the castle forward two squares.

The woman opposite her, clad in white shorts and an orange t-shirt, looked perfectly relaxed, a small, content smile on her lips. Glancing at the board, she then met her opponents gaze, grinned and then moved a white bishop five squares. "Check," she said calmly.

"What! How?" Captain Brooks exploded, her tone a mix of amazement and infuriation. How did I miss that! Her eyes travelled between the grinning face of Corporal Martinez and the board. By moving her castle forward in order to chase a check of her own, she had inadvertently cleared the way for her opponent's bishop. I would have had her! A quick assessment of the situation showed there was nothing she could do. She could neither take the attacking bishop nor block it and her king had only one move, after which Martinez would move her queen and with the protection of her bishop, force a checkmate. Brooks features contorted into an unimpressed scowl, as she did the only thing she could; resigned.