Fighting Wings Ch3: The Paths Collide
A/N: Hey guys. I know this chapter is really late. But other than school, work, and laziness I have no excuse :P Ok here's the deal with this chapter: You all know that this story is a tie in to Wings of Change. Well this particular chapter is basically where that convergence begins. This chapter is basically chapter 15 of Winds of Change told through Kestrel's perspective. Therefore it won't be a complete retelling of that chapter, though it will have the same dialogue when appropriate. Instead, it will show what Kestrel was doing during the time Starling was learning about Kai's secret from Rondana.
Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks: Said show is owned by Nerd Corps Entertainment and Asaph "Ace" Fipke. And of course, as you all know, I do in fact, own Kestrel, Gyr, Hiero, and this story…so there you go.
Many thanks go out to RGZ Archer for shamelessly advertising Fighting Wings on his own story Winds of Change, for free even. So go and read his story already! I know some of you TDT readers would like it. :D
Thanks also go out to MissDedodakes for giving me a detailed description of the terra and the hospital. In those kind of situations elaborating is a good thing :P
Rondana and Jim were created by MissDedodakes.
After many days and nights of flight, Terra Pathologica was now in plain view. Even though Kestrel guessed it was probably after midnight and if it weren't for the moon, she wouldn't be able to see the terra if she had crashed into it, she just had a feeling, or more of a desperate hope, that this was where Kai was hiding.
Though she couldn't see the terra completely in the dead of night, she could tell it was unlike most terras she had seen before; the tropical look of the terra was not something new to Kestrel, after all she lived on a tropical terra herself. What really made the terra different was the structure of the buildings. Unlike the more sophisticated designs of buildings on Atmos, the structures of these buildings seemed more…medieval.
"This is where Kai goes for treatment?" Kestrel asked herself, puzzled. "Calling this place a 'backwater' would be the understatement of the century. I mean, what kind of treatment do they prescribe? bloodletting?" Kestrel couldn't help but laugh to herself as she imagined Kai with over a dozen leeches clinging to his body, painfully draining his blood from him and let out a sigh.
"If only…"
The pleasant notion of Kai in pain had Kestrel so distracted that she didn't realize that she almost flew over the terra before she returned to reality and slammed on her skimmer's brakes, leaving it to hover in the air. According to what little information she dug up on Pathologica before she departed, the terra was far from idyllic; while she didn't get too many details, she learned of the terra's clan based hierarchy and one clan in particular that made the most trouble. In situations like that, the people on Pathologica must have been paranoid about defense and security, and it was possible they had archers guarding the city's rooftops. Kestrel had never been part of any sky knight squadron so she couldn't fly any colors or sky knight emblems to show the terra's defenses that she wasn't a threat. Most likely they would think she was a scout for a raiding party and shoot her down on sight. If this terra had any crystal-based technology, particularly weapons, it would be even easier for them to damage her skimmer and worse; all the commotion would almost certainly alert Kai that something was wrong.
The first thing she had to worry about of course, was finding him.
Kestrel wasn't sure how populated this terra was, and Kai could be hiding anywhere from the cities to the jungles, or maybe even the mountains. The jungle was the least likely place since it seemed more likely to contract any of the number of fatal diseases, especially with the amount of wounds Kai dragged in every time he visited this terra. Not to mention the fact that there was some kind of insane clan that resided in the jungle. The terra's capital seemed to be the best place to look, but knowing Kai that seemed almost too easy. Kai typically hid in places no one would expect, sometimes even if it meant he would be put in harm's way. But apparently Kai was also not known for being too predictable with his methods. Even when Kestrel managed to find him four years ago it was more or less an accident. Finding Kai in a place like this was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack…
A primitive, disease-ridden, and most likely hostile haystack…
"Looks like I've got no choice…" Kestrel said with a sigh,
Focusing what little psychic energy she had left, she began to focus it into her eyes once again. It had been almost a full 24 hours since she had used falconsight, but without sleep, only so much of her energy had been replenished. Unfortunately it seemed to be the only way to find Kai at the moment, especially on a terra she knew nothing about.
And that was of course, assuming she hadn't arrived too late…
Kestrel opened her eyes again, once more seeing the world through her falconsight. Almost immediately her eyes begin to throb with pain. There wasn't much energy left for prolonged use. The only thing she could do was look for any trace of the energy trail around the terra and find where it ended.
Kestrel looked once more at the terra, her eyes darting around trying to find the energy wake that matched her skimmer. But there was no trace of it at all.
"Come on…" she said through clenched teeth. "There's no way the energy trail could have dissipated this quickly."
The pain in her eyes was now beginning to seep into her head. Her movements quickened out of panic and she scanned the terra even faster this time. But her luck did not improve. There were at best, only one or two extremely weak energy wakes crisscrossing over the terra, but none of them matched the unique signature of her skimmer. She was about to give up when she saw something in the corner of her eye. She turned to see what looked like a skimmer flying at a high speed toward the terra.
"Oh you've gotta be kidding!" Kestrel exclaimed. "That better not be somebody else trying to cash in on Kai's bounty! If they think they can take my reward from me they have another th…"
Kestrel's worlds trailed off when she noticed the energy wake of the distant skimmer. It was the same as the unique crystal energy pattern she had been following all this time. She had to do look closely just to make sure she wasn't just seeing things out of desperation, but the skimmer's wake color did not change, which could only mean that skimmer was the one Kai had stolen four years ago.
This meant that the pilot of the skimmer had to be Kai.
Kestrel almost tipped her skimmer over and nearly lost her balance on the vehicle upon being hit with the realization. "Kai!? He's here now!? But how did I beat him here!? This doesn't make-!"
Kestrel almost tipped her skimmer over again, but this time it was from an eruption of pain in her head that felt like she was being smacked by Snipe's mace. She held her head in one hand and managed to turn the skimmer back to its upright position with the other. Finally, she deactivated her falconsight once her skimmer was stable again.
"Ugh…well I won't be getting another use out of that today." She said with an exasperated sigh, still holding her head in pain. "Well this sucks; I can't use falconsight and the crystals in my weapons are dead. At this rate fighting Kai will be a lot more difficult than I wanted. Fortunately I still have one trick left, I didn't want to have to use it so soon but I guess I don't have a choice now."
Kestrel looked back to where she had seen the skimmer earlier, hoping she hadn't lost it. Sure enough, she could still see it, though now it was flying almost dangerously close to the top of the trees. One thing she had noticed before she lost use of her falconsight was that the wake pattern was somewhat unusual and seemed to circle around the terra. She saw the path going into the jungles below and out again as well as surveying the terra's coast from a relatively low altitude. The pattern suggested the pilot was searching for something.
"Huh...That's weird," said Kestrel, somewhat perplexed. "If Kai comes here regularly to get treatment, then unless the memory span of a sky shark he wouldn't be flying around looking for this place. If that is Kai, then he must've been flying around for awhile to have made a pattern like that."
Though the whole thing didn't make any sense, she couldn't very well get into a dogfight with Kai over a hostile terra. The only thing she could do was follow him, and with any luck corner him when he was being treated at the hospital. If he was as injured as he apparently had been on previous visits to this terra, then he wouldn't be able to put up too much of a fight.
"Heh, I had really hoped to beat him to a pulp myself," she said. "But my guess is if he's flying like that, he's probably disoriented from blood loss or something along those lines. I don't wanna kill him after all."
Kestrel paused for a minute, and after realizing she hadn't been spotted, reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a bluish-purple crystal.
"Kai may be the pirate here," she thought, "But I'm not above stealing from that brat Cyclonis either."
Kestrel then inserted the crystal into her skimmer and began to take off again. No sooner had she begun moving did both she and her vehicle begin to shimmer for a few seconds before fading completely from sight.
Using the modified cloaking crystal, Kestrel could create a field that bent light around a certain diameter. In her case, it cloaked everything within a 20 ft radius. It didn't make her completely transparent like Cyclonis' original cloaking crystals, but it helped save time by creating a cloaking field instead of wasting time using the crystal on herself and her skimmer separately. It was a quick and precise weapon of defense and offense, perfect for escape, or for an ambush.
"Nice work as always Gyr, you really ought to create a market for this," she said aloud. She then revved her skimmer's throttle and took off at top speed for the distant skimmer "Now the hunt can really begin."
Kestrel spent quite some time following the skimmer around the terra. Though she knew she wouldn't be spotted, Kestrel was careful to keep her distance so that Kai couldn't possibly hear her skimmer's engines or see the faint shimmer of her outline behind him. For the most part Kai was keeping to the jungle's tree line, most likely trying to find the hospital again. But then the skimmer suddenly pulled up. It shot up so fast that Kestrel, who had been behind at a slightly higher altitude, nearly crashed into him. Her instincts almost caused her to yelp but she regained control before the sounds escaped her throat.
"Hah, surprise, surprise. It's almost looks like he's trying to evade me even though he can't see me." She said as soon as she grinded her skimmer to a halt and watched as the skimmer took off.
After letting the skimmer get a little distance she began her pursuit again. The skimmer flew toward what looked like a small mountain and began a climb slightly higher as Kai neared it. Kestrel waited a moment before following the same flight pattern. She followed the skimmer as it flew around the mountain in circles, apparently hoping to spot something along its surface. After an annoying while playing roundabout, Kai finally stopped and flew directly at the mountain. Kestrel quickly followed, certain that Kai wasn't going to fly directly at the mountain, but as usual, kept her distance just in case. Suddenly, the skimmer slowed and made foe what looked like a flat surface near the mountain's summit. It was as if someone had carved out the mountainside to create a landing strip for skimmers. As the Kai's skimmer shifted into its land form and screeched to a halt near the end of the strip, it seemed that was the exact purpose it served.
"Huh…clever," Kestrel said, impressed. "No one below would see it and most pilots passing by probably wouldn't think much of it. It gives my place a run for its money."
Kestrel brought her cloaked skimmer as close as she could and slammed on the brakes as soon as she felt she was close enough. She then pressed a button on her skimmer and virtually all the engines cut off, while several smaller engine ports appeared at the bottom of her skimmer.
Her modified skimmer had several useful gadgets that helped her to be stealthy when need be. But her "silent-flight mode" was best suited for close-proximity reconnaissance. It allowed her to hover in the air for short periods of time using small repulsor engines at the bottom of the skimmer. The only noise they made was a light hissing. And at this altitude, the wind drowned out even that sound. Kestrel knew she could probably attack Kai now, but she didn't want any witnesses and it that door in from of them opened and someone saw her, it would most likely mean trouble later.
Kestrel remembered one of the most important Black Ops rules she was taught when she was trained in Cyclonia: "make friends with your environment." Basically it meant that to have the advantage over an enemy, one should make use of the senses. When one made use of the senses in an unknown area, they could "see" the surroundings, "hear" the natural sounds, and "smell" the air around them, and finally using intuition to look for anomalies. By using one's natural senses, even in a new environment, one could determine what "belonged" in that environment and what didn't. In other words, one could separate the natural from the technological, the old from the new. It was that simple rule that showed her the door in the first place, and she wasn't about to let anything else take her by surprise. Not when she was so close…
Of course, none of her senses prepared her for what she saw next.
She saw the pilot hop off the skimmer and make for the door. The pilot had somewhat short, purplish hair, green eyes, and an obviously feminine figure. She also wore a flight suit that Kestrel didn't recognize.
"Ohhhh-kaaay…that's definitely NOT Kai," thought Kestrel. "Who the heck is that? Better not be another bounty hunter!"
Kestrel wasn't sure what was going on and didn't want to take a chance on missing something important, but the wind was making it much harder for her to hear anything. Reluctantly she decided to find a place to land. Fortunately, she didn't have to look far before she found what looked like a small ridge below the landing strip. While it was a tight squeeze she managed to slowly move her skimmer to the ridge and land it safely. She then deactivated the cloaking crystal, certain that no one would see it and walked toward the end of the ridge, where she saw that the landing strip was about 20 feet above her.
"Ok then, time for some rock-climbing," said Kestrel, then with a running start latched herself to the rock formation. The climb up wasn't difficult; Kestrel excelled at parkour and was in excellent shape, the wind however was biting cold and she hadn't dressed for inclement weather. Still she managed to climb up to the top where she saw the other skimmer parked close to the door. The woman wasn't in sight, but Kestrel had noticed earlier that the door was carved into the mountain slightly, leaving a very small tunnel, about 15 ft or so, between the door and the wind. As she got closer, Kestrel could also hear faint voices over the howling wind. Obviously, the woman was talking to someone.
Curious at the very least, and hoping they were discussing Kai's whereabouts, she put her back to the outer wall of the tunnel and crept slowly to the edge. She moved her head over the edge slightly, doing everything she could to make sure she wasn't spotted. Then at last she could hear the conversation with much more clarity.
"…Formalities aside, did Kai contact you about two days ago?" Kestrel heard the woman say.
"Jackpot!"
"Ah, that's why you're here. Yes, it was quite strange." Another voice replied, this one sounding younger than the first. "He sent a message here the day before yesterday, but I was out and Jim took it. All I could get out of it was he needed help of some sort, and that he would be here in the next few days."
"Oh great, so he never showed up…" thought Kestrel. "If he wasn't going to be here, then why did the council give me Intel saying he was? I'll never understand the way those old farts do the crap they do!"
"Yes, well, I came in his place to speak with you about that-"
"He isn't hurt again is he?" the younger girl interrupted. "I told him that I can't keep patching him up like that, it takes too long and we never know when we might get swamped."
"Tch! 'swamped' yeah right!" Kestrel thought, rolling her eyes. "I bet people are just lining up to visit a hospital at the top of a freakin' mountain!"
"Hurt again? I'm afraid I don't understand," she heard the older woman ask, which got Kestrel's attention. She expected them to go inside and discuss it, but the younger girl continued.
"Every now and then he comes stumbling in here at some godforsaken hour looking like he lost a fight to a blender," the younger girl replied in an exasperated tone. "I keep telling him that it's not safe to be on this terra with open wounds, but he just ignores me."
"How many times has this happened?" the woman asked sharply. Whatever was going on with Kai, this woman apparently didn't know about it. In fact, she probably didn't even realize he had come here for treatment. What was most interesting was that the woman almost sounded hurt, like she had been lied to.
"Well, it's not impossible, but it seems less likely that she's a bounty hunter. But then who is she?"
"About once every month or so," the girl replied. "Most of the time it's not really all that bad, just superficial lacerations with a sprain or two."
"He's going to this backwater terra just for that?" Kestrel was now genuinely confused. "If he's not trying to hide his injuries, then what is he hiding?"
Kestrel knew that Kai was not always one for the conventional methods. But this whole situation seemed ridiculously complicated. Obviously there was more going on than just the casual sprain that would cause Kai to do this. But the question was what was causing him to resort to these extremes in the first place?
"And the other times?" she heard the older woman ask darkly.
"Oh yes, do tell us about those times!"
There was a few seconds of silence before Kestrel heard the younger girl speak again. "Once he came in with several broken ribs, a fractured arm, and a dislocated shoulder. He looked like he had fallen off a terra. The last time….the last time though was pretty bad."
Kestrel couldn't help but listen intently as though she were hearing about a particularly nasty skimmer wreck on the radio. If for no other reason than to get more information on Kai, it was interesting news.
"Last time…he almost didn't make it." The girl continued, clearly uncomfortable talking about the subject. "Severe internal bleeding, compound fractures across most of his ribs, and I couldn't even count the number of sprains and breaks. Aside from that, nearly every muscle and tendon in his body was completely shredded. I didn't even know who he was when I first saw him."
"Wow…I mean…ouch!" Kestrel thought, almost feeling queasy herself. "I almost feel sorry for him…keyword: ALMOST."
The girl continued. "He was here for about a week, but when I went to check on him…all I found was a note apologizing for the trouble he had caused, and a small bag of gold. It paid for all the stuff we used to fix him up, and was actually a bit more than he needed to pay, but…I just…I don't like seeing a friend like that."
"…Now I think I really AM gonna be sick!"
It took a few seconds for the woman to respond. "Did he…ever tell you how he got any of these injuries?" she asked finally.
"Let's go talk somewhere else," the girl replied tiredly. "I don't want to be standing any longer than I have to; it's been a long day."
"Crap! They're going inside! I have to figure out how to get in there! It may be my only chance of finding Kai!"
As soon as she heard the door close, Kestrel moved towards the door. It was obviously very solid and sturdy and she could tell by the clicking noises it made when it was closed that it was locked over multiple times.
"I don't have anywhere near the firepower to break this thing down," Kestrel stated. "Besides, the last thing I want to do is cause a panic in there. I'll have to find another way in."
Kestrel stepped back and observed the entirety of the mountaintop. "Maybe there's a window I can climb to or something." She said. "Let's hope this place actually has windows, otherwise it would be a pretty lame hospital."
Kestrel scanned the mountainside with great intent, hoping to see anything that might resemble a window. It would have been easier if the wind wasn't whipping her face and blowing her hair into her eyes, forcing her to eventually hold it back, but she did not give up the search. After a few seconds of searching she saw what looked like a small indent to the east side of the door and about 50 or so feet high. What made it stick out was that it was carved out in a rectangular fashion
"Bingo!" Kestrel exclaimed. "Now to get up there, not much time left."
Once again she had to endure climbing up a rock wall with high altitude wind biting at her face. Of course, now it was a longer climb and more difficult than the first. She could feel her fingers getting number each time she pulled herself higher. Though the climb only took her about thirty seconds, it seemed like an eternity before she finally reached the window. Naturally, there was a pane of glass in it, no doubt to keep the cold air from bellowing in, but Kestrel, not wanting to break the window and cause a commotion, pushed it open with one hand and holding onto the rock face with the other.
"Whew! Good thing it isn't locked or I'd probably have fallen off by now." Kestrel said as she slid the window open and crawled inside.
The first thing she noticed about the room she was in was that it was dark. Aside from the natural light coming from the window there were no other lights. That was a good thing since she had no idea where the two doctors that were supposed to be here were and the last thing she needed was to run into one of them and blow her cover. That was another important black ops rule she had learned: "Don't go looking for trouble, only act when trouble comes to you." Basically it meant that anything other than the target was strictly off limits unless it was in the way. An example would be if you were spotted by guards and had to defend yourself, or if there is a sentry at the only entrance to the target's room, you could use aggressive tactics in those and similar situations, but actively eliminating guards was something to avoid as it causes suspicion and otherwise panic. The best option one had was to be stealthy and act only on the target.
This was Kestrel's best option at the moment.
She glanced at the room she was in; it was obviously a patient room, but thankfully it was empty. "So, the only room with a view eh? Must be for the high roller patients." She said with a laugh, and then casually stepped out of the room. Once she was sure no one had spotted her, she moved to the right, where the door had been and listened for the sounds of the two girls' voices. It didn't take her too long to hear their conversation pick up again. Then she saw the two of them. They were both sitting in chairs across from one another. Kestrel moved in to get a glimpse of the younger girl. She definitely was young: she couldn't have been older than 14. She had black hair similar to Kestrel's, but wavier and without the blond highlights at the end. Her eyes were a bright blue and they had a look of innocence about them, though at the moment the girl looked anxious, like she was being interrogated.
"Hmm….maybe she's an intern or something?" Kestrel thought. "Ah who cares! That's not important anyway."
As Kestrel moved in closer to hear what they were saying, she could tell the older woman's irritation, and the younger girl's discomfort, had amplified.
"…The lacerations usually are patterned, two, three, five, or seven paralleled." She heard the teen say. Kestrel already knew what that meant before the girl continued. "Meaning they were caused by a tooth or a claw. I actually have a small collection of leftovers from his visits if you would like to see them."
"If you wouldn't mind," the woman replied. She was trying to be polite, but was obviously seething with more negative emotions.
The teen girl got up first followed by the woman and they walked toward the clinic. As soon as the two were far enough away, Kestrel took the opportunity to drop down from the second floor to the first. Her feet barely made any noise as they touched the floor, a skill that came with years of training in stealth tactics. She then crept quickly towards the clinic door, which was conveniently left open.
As she got closer she noticed what looked like a clipboard lying in some folders near the door. She noticed the writing to be the same as most terras in Atmos use, meaning that despite the level of technology here, this hospital at the very least had contact with the rest of the free Atmos on occasion. She picked it up and began to read it, hoping it may have more information on where Kai was coming from or going after he came to this place. Sadly, it was only a list of patients, with Kai's name not among them. Interestingly, it wasn't very long and it was written on the current date, but Kestrel also noticed that there were several layers of roughly torn shreds of paper at the top. From what she noticed it seemed that the girl kept records of patients only once a day and either filed the information in a more secretive location, or destroyed it. She didn't read deeply into the names of the patients as she was certain she most likely didn't know them, but made a special note to look at the signature of the doctor who had apparently treated most of them. She saw the name, Rondana Almanikets on the signature line at the bottom.
"Well I guess Rondana is that younger girl," Kestrel thought, "And obviously she isn't an intern either." She then quietly put the clipboard back and focused on what was going on inside the clinic.
Applying the same tactic as earlier, Kestrel put her back to the wall next to the door and slowly poked her head over the edge. Rondana and the older woman had their backs to her, obviously talking about something of interest. Fortunately, they were spaced far enough away from each other that Kestrel could see the younger girl pull out what looked like a box of supplies. When she opened it however, it was not what Kestrel had expected.
The contents of the box looked more like a hunter's collection of spoils from kills than medical supplies. Though she couldn't see its entirety from her angle, Kestrel clearly saw an assortment of what looked like teeth and claws from several creatures she couldn't identify off-hand. She could even see a few of them looked like they were violently broken off at the end, as if they had caught something and then whatever they had in their jaws or claws had managed to quickly (and painfully) break free.
"Starling, he's going to get himself killed one of these days." Rondana exclaimed. "He should have died a year ago for cripes sakes!"
Kestrel's face twisted in shock. "ALL of those came from Kai!? You've gotta be kidding me!" Kestrel was even more shocked when she saw the younger girl pull a very large and intimidating fang from the box
"See this?" Rondana said with an incensed tone. "I had to get Jim to pull it out because it was stuck in his femur, HIS FEMUR! What is he fighting out there that can bite through bone like a vanilla wafer?"
"Well I figured I wasn't the only one who fought giant monsters on occasion out there," Kestrel thought. "But Kai, that's pretty sad if you get teeth and claws stuck in you on a regular basis. Are you even BOTHERNG to dodge?"
"I can only deal with so much; I can only patch somebody up so many times knowing full well that next time he might come back even worse, if he even does come back at all. You've got to talk some sense into him, lord knows I've tried." The young girl was visibly upset. Apparently she was more acquainted with Kai than simply being his doctor. The two had obviously developed a friendship. As for the other woman, who she now knew was called Starling, Kestrel still wasn't sure what her relationship with Kai was, but from the way this information seemed to aggravate her, it was obvious that she was concerned about Kai as well.
"I…I had no idea." She said after a pause, no doubt to take in the scope of what was going on. It was clear that she cared about Kai too. The question was to what extent?
"It still doesn't even make sense," said Rondana
"What doesn't make sense?"
"In the past…I have found several chips and flakes of metal in his wounds, which I know were caused by some sort of weapon." Rondana replied. "But that doesn't explain everything. He's had burns and scorches from crystal weapons as well as fire and acids, in addition to gouges and wounds from teeth and claws,"
"So he's been fighting sentient opponents too?" thought Kestrel wrapping her head around this recent revelation. "Something tells me this is going beyond anything Cyclonia would throw at him. This sounds a lot like the work I do when I scout uncharted terras; lots of hostile animals and sometimes ancient security systems to deal with. But what Kai's doing sounds more like multiple suicide missions. That girl is right…if he went through all this on his own, especially on a daily basis, he should've been killed on several occasions by now.
"But it still doesn't explain the muscle and tendon damage." Rondana continued. "At first I thought it might have been caused by poison, but none of the toxins that I have extracted from him ever proved to do anything of the like. The only correlation I could find is that the worse off he is when he shows up, the more likely he is to have that damage."
It took a few seconds for Kestrel to pull everything together, but then it hit her.
"I get it," she thought, "He must be using those shadow powers of his. It explains why he was able to go through all that and still survive. As for the 'unexplained' muscle and tendon damage, my guess is that the shadow energy does damage to his body if he uses it in excess, maybe even if he uses it at all. And I'm betting he pushes it to the limit when he's going at it out there."
Then, when Kestrel thought she had almost put together the reason for Kai's actions, she realized that was what she was missing: the reason. What she still didn't understand was why? Why did Kai put himself through this? Did it have something to do with his pirating career? Or was there something else at work? Whatever it was, it became clear that the Council hadn't told her everything.
"Hmph, then I guess I'll have to find out myself." She thought, reaching for her weapons, then slowly turning into the doorway and walking quietly toward the two.
"I think I might have an idea as to its cause," she heard Starling say as she crept closer to them, readying her tonfa. "That aside, he has requested that you aid him in a mission, would you be able to do so?"
Kestrel took the opportunity to press the sides of her weapons against both of their necks. The girl jumped slightly, but otherwise didn't make a sound, while the other one stood motionless. Kestrel was momentarily impressed at this, but then focused her attention back to the situation.
"Heartbreaking," she said. "Now, mind telling me where he is? I hate to waste time, and you girls look like your talking about something important, so if you would please, tell me where the coward is hiding?"
The two immediately tried to turn their heads, but Kestrel pressed her weapons harder into the side of their necks, freezing their heads in place. "Ah-ah-ah, you wouldn't want my hands to slip now would you?"
Kestrel felt Starling shift her body slightly, but paid it no mind. She had the advantage here.
"If you're looking for Jim, he's upstairs second door on the right," Rondana replied timidly.
Suddenly Kestrel saw lights come on one floor above her "Oh thanks a lot, a real team player you are!" An older man shouted, he sounded like he was in his 30s or 40s; at least that's what his voice indicated rather than his dialogue.
"Oh like you wouldn't have sold me out?"
Kestrel rolled her eyes before speaking "Oh would you two shut up!?" she spat "Do you really think I'd be here for some worthless doctor? I'm looking for bigger game." She turned back to Starling. "You said his name not long ago, and that skimmer parked outside has his stench all over it. Now tell me, where is Kai?"
"Who are you?" she heard Rondana ask
"Tch! Like it matters! Look, just tell me where he's hiding and nobody gets hurt," was Kestrel's reply.
It was then that Kestrel noticed something she hadn't taken the time to see before. The older woman's flight suit was designed similarly to that of a Sky Knight. She also had weapons of her own; what appeared to be nunchaku.
"Wait a second," Kestrel thought. "She didn't flinch when my tonfa touched her, she shifted her body towards me as if to shift her weight, and to top it all off, she has Sky Knight-style armor and weapons. So that means she-"
Kestrel didn't have time to finish her thoughts before she heard the woman shout out a war cry and Kestrel felt a sharp elbow ram into her stomach. The attack came so fast that she couldn't react and could only lurch over as the hit collided. She didn't have time to recover though as she saw Starling's palm drop below her face level, only to come back up and strike her directly on her chin, sending her head flying back up.
"I don't know who you are, and frankly, I don't really care. But no one threatens my friends and gets away with it." She heard Starling shout. As soon as Kestrel recovered from the attack she looked up to see the woman's nun chucks, now glowing with a white light, about to slam down on her head. She managed to bring her weapons up to defend just in time.
"Great! I have dead weapons and no falconsight and I have to run into a really pissed off sky knight bodyguard! As if things could get any worse!"
"You…you will pay!" Starling roared and began to push down on Kestrel. Starling was maybe an inch or two taller, and Kestrel had been so caught off guard she had unintentionally allowed her to gain leverage on her and without her weapons at full power, she couldn't push her back off.
"Grr…how did you know I was coming here!?" Kestrel demanded. Had Kai figured out she was following him and sent this Sky Knight as a decoy.
She was answered with a knee to the stomach, causing her to stagger over again. "I didn't. You're the one that came in here and attacked us."
"Attacked" was hardly the word Kestrel would have used. "Threaten" maybe but she didn't actually attack them. It still didn't seem to warrant the level of aggression Starling was exuding. As soon as Kestrel recovered she attempted to counter, but the Sky Knight was faster and wrapped her hand around her neck. Then with full fury she ran and thrust Kestrel into the wall with great force. The impact caused her tonfa to drop from her hands. Kestrel found herself pinned to the wall by Starling, one hand wrapped around her neck. She wasn't choking her, but instead was just holding her in place.
"Heh, she's stronger than she looks," Kestrel thought, mortified that anyone had gotten such an advantage over her, but at the same time, impressed with the woman's skills. "I can't believe I'm in this position, it's so embarrassing…"
"Now tell me, who are you and what do you want with Kai?"Starling demanded. Rondana and Jim appeared behind her, both of them on one side.
Kestrel didn't respond at first, but stared Starling down, still reeling from losing so humiliatingly. But as everything about this woman's relationship with Kai and her burst of rage began to fit into place, Kestrel couldn't help but laugh dryly.
Starling clearly didn't take this lightly. "What's so funny?" She demanded, slamming Kestrel into the wall again, which did nothing but keep Kestrel laughing.
"It all makes sense now." she replied and looked back at Starling with a mocking smirk. "I come looking for Kai, and who else should I find than his little Crush Girl?"
"Who are you?" Rondana asked
Kestrel turned her attention to the girl and glared. "Trust me, the less you know, the better off you are."
Her attention was averted back to Starling as the Sky Knight shoved her again. "I asked you a question. Now tell me who are you, and why are you after Kai?"
"Again with the shoving… you trying to act tough or something Crush Girl?" Kestrel thought. "When I get out of this…" Kestrel allowed her own rage to settle. It was obvious that Kai wasn't here and there was no reason to risk anything in her state when she could use Kai's friends to help her find him. She waited until all three of them were watching her face before discreetly reaching into her back pocket and pulling out a small device.
"Well, since you asked so nicely." She replied mockingly, as she did so she casually motioned her hand toward Starling's thigh and placing the small tracking device on it. "My name is Kestrel, and my business with Kai is my own."
As Kestrel predicted, Starling shoved her again. "Now you listen to me, and you had better listen well. I don't care who you are, if you have any business with Kai, then you have business with me!"
"Aww, how sickeningly sweet, I think I'm going to have a cavity, if I don't puke first!" Kestrel spat.
"Allow me, if you will?" Jim said, pulling a needle from his coat.
"Tch! What's that? A flu shot?"
"No, its sodium pentothal, also known as truth serum." The older man said with a grin.
Kestrel was no stranger to truth serum, and she knew how it worked. "Oh no, your no-" she said trying to break free, but Starling held her fast. She felt the prick of the needle and some small pressure as the chemical entered her bloodstream. It didn't take long before she began to feel the effects of the drug.
"How long does it take to work?" she heard Starling ask Jim, then Kestrel saw the room begin to spin slightly.
"Hmm not long, a few minutes and she should be singing like a canary."
"Alright, let's try this again shall we? Who are you, and why are you after Kai?" Starling asked Kestrel
"Oh go to…" Kestrel's head slumped down as the drug's groggy, disorienting side effects took told. She knew how the drug worked; it didn't make a person infallibly tell the truth, but it did make them more talkative. But she was going to tell them the truth anyway so she decided to humor them.
"My name…is…Kestrel….one L…." "Wait…one L? Why would I say that? What does that even mean?"
"Why were you after Kai?" Kestrel heard Rondana ask. Kestrel rolled her head back up to face her.
"He's…got a…big…price…on his…head…." She said before her head slumped back down again.
"Great, she's a bounty hunter." Starling said with a sigh.
Kestrel looked up at her with annoyance. "I…prefer the term…freelancer…"
"Same difference," said Jim.
"Yeah…about the same…difference… between you…and a…competent… doctor…" she shot back. "If I'm going to be drugged and forced to spill my guts for Kai's little girlfriend I may as well have some fun while I'm doing it."
"Who put a bounty on Kai's head? What did he do?" Rondana asked. Kestrel as surprised that it was her who asked the question and not Starling, but she figured that perhaps she didn't want to hear the truth.
"Same…people…as…last…time..." Kestrel replied with a weak laugh.
As soon as she said that, Starling released Kestrel who, still groggy from the drug, fell to the ground.
"Starling?" Rondana said as the tried to shake the Sky Knight out of her stupor. "Starling? What is she talking about? What bounty? What's going on?"
"Those rats…" Starling said through clenched teeth. "I can't believe they would stoop to this low. Is this how petty they really are?"
"Hmm…just as I expected," thought Kestrel, noticing her mind was beginning to clear, meaning the drug was wearing off. "As a Sky Knight she obviously works for the Council, so to realize that the Council has put the bounty on his head again would definitely get her anger seething."
"Who? Who is it?" Rondana asked, clearly having missed something. She obviously wasn't as familiar with Kai's history as Starling and Kestrel were.
Starling turned to Rondana, trying as hard as she could to calm her tone. "It's not something you need to worry about, not now anyway." She replied. "If you're going to help on this mission, go pack anything essential you might need. Kai has a storehouse of supplies, but he doesn't have everything." Rondana responded with a nod and quickly took off
"Mission?" Kestrel asked in her head. "Well that at least explains why she came here in Kai's place, even if it's only a partial explanation.
Starling then turned back to her. "So you're Kestrel." She said. "Kai told me about a bounty hunter that chased him halfway across Atmos four years ago, one that used tonfa if memory serves. The only one that matched that description at the time was you, but I never managed to track you down back then, and here you are now."
Kestrel looked at Starling with a lazy, careless expression, but otherwise didn't respond.
"I know for a fact that the bounty on Kai expired three years ago." Starling stated. "The council can't lay a hand on him, so tell me the truth, who put a price on his head hmm?" She lightly kicked Kestrel in the side to initiate a response."
"Tch! So what if it expired? You think that matters to them?" she scoffed, "The council itself can't touch him, but the council members still can. Besides, it's personal too. He still owes me a skimmer. And by a skimmer, I mean my skimmer… "
"Oh crap! I completely forgot about my skimmer!" Kestrel screamed in her head. "Crush Girl here was the one riding it, and now they're gonna escape with it AGAIN! Geez! I can't believe I forgot about it…"
"Umm, I have everything that I'll need. Shouldn't we leave now?" Kestrel heard Rondana say from a doorway on the other side of the room.
Starling Glared one last time at Kestrel before following Rondana.
"Ooooh! Scary…" She mumbled.
She waited awhile before attempting to stand up, the effects of the drug were all but gone, but her balance was still off slightly. As soon as she found her footing she began to make for the exit.
"Geez, that stuff makes you feel groggy…" she said, her head beginning to spin a little as she stood completely up. "Ugh! I can't believe I took all that just so they would lead me to Kai…"
Remembering the tracking device she had planted on Starling, Kestrel reached into her pants pocket and pulled out another, larger device; the tracker for the bug she had planted.
"Perfect! Lead me right to my payday Crush Girl!" Kestrel exclaimed with satisfaction. "It's high time I finally got my big score…and maybe even give Crush Girl a little payback!"
She then flipped the switch to turn the device on and took at look at the screen.
It was black…
"Oh, you have got to…I can't believe this!" she snapped. The device was clearly broken, probably when she had been knocked into the wall. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to leave it in her back pants pocket…
"Aggh! I was so close this time too..." she said. It wasn't true; in fact she was barely ahead of where she started. But after coming all the way out to a disease-infested terra, losing a fight humiliatingly, and being drugged, she had to console herself somehow. She let out a heavy sigh before saying, "I'll just have get the darn thing fixed I guess."
Using the same method as she used to get in, she climbed out of the building and eventually made it all the way back to her own skimmer. As she figured, her old skimmer was nowhere to be found. Starling and Rondana had no doubt taken it to wherever Kai was hiding. The only hope she had was to get her tracking device fixed before she lost their signal for good.
"I get the feeling this is gonna be a looooong job!" she said as she brought her skimmer to life. Once she took off and was a good distance away, she looked back to Pathologica and grinned wickedly.
"Don't you guys go anywhere, especially you Kai" she slammed the throttle and took off for Amazonia as fast as possible.
"I'll be right back..."
A/N: Okay! So how was that? I'm not entirely pleased with it but I hope everyone enjoys it. This was my first time incorporating someone else's work into a story of mine so it's quite possible I made some mistakes. So MissDedodakes, if I made any grievous errors concerning your terra or OCs please let me know and I will correct them. I have a paper to write and an online course to take care of so I probably won't get this out before next week, but hopefully it will take less time than this chapter to come out lol
Laterz!
