It was early in the next morning before Cortes stirred. And felt like he could hardly breathe. The bandages were so tight. He sat up, not noticing at that point that he'd been snuggled into a certain bots hold. He was too busy trying to be rid of shirt and jacket, then trying to free the bandages.
At last he succeeded in tearing them off, and soon realised why it felt like they'd tightened. The damned wings had expanded, they were nearly over 2 feet long now, almost 2 & 1/2 and had gotten slightly bulkier in terms of height.
"No way...they're growing!" he cried angrily. Sirus sat up, alerted by Cortes' voice.
"Master what's-oh I see...they HAVE started growing." he said matter of factly.
Then he frowned as Cortes drew his knees up to his chest and buried his head on them. Judging by how much the wings were trembling, and how tense his posture was, master Cortes was obviously unhappy.
"Master..?" he asked gently, reaching out to put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
This time Cortes didn't flinch, he just sighed. "What am I going to do? There's no way I can hide them now...no way.." his voice halted, and he sighed again.
"You speak as if they're a problem. Master, none of those people will hate you for any of this. It isn't your fault, its whatever that Oslo did to you. This is his fault, they'll want to get him for this.." as he spoke, he absently ran his hand through the humans soft hair. Cortes still didn't react, he just sat there.
Sirus ran his hands along the wings, gently lifting them and letting them stretch out to full length. "These truly are beautiful, just like the bird of the heavens, you seen how much your crew enjoyed that sighting of the bird. Miss Lena would love to see these wings..."
"Uh...yeah, right.." his Master responded blankly. Getting up from the bed, Sirus knelt in front of him, gently lifting his masters hair away from his face, looking kindly at him.
"I promise, Master, they won't be angry, just a little surprised at first. There's bound to be a way to explain this...maybe the Vector knows something...he seems to know a lot about birds.."
At last Cortes stirred, looking up at him. For all the strength he showed to others, as tough as he always seemed to be, even for him, this was hard to cope with, so much pain and shock in one day. He hated showing weakness to anyone, but the angel-bot was being so considerate, so...nice to him. In the state he was in, he couldn't turn away someone's kindness this time.
Sirus smiled and tucked the humans hair behind his ears, "it suits you that way." he remarked, and Cortes went red again. He'd never had anyone focus their attention solely on him alone like this. He himself always had to divide his time between so many matters and people, he knew he came across as stand-offish most of the time. Rude, even.
Having this angel-bot suddenly drop in on his life, and being so devoted to him alone, it baffled Cortes a little. But less and less...his resistance was fading.
"Would you rather I went and spoke to Vector and the others...?" Sirus asked at last.
Cortes sighed "yeah, it might seem less weird...I guess." he sighed crossly "what'm I going to do about clothes?"
Sirus thought about it, "if you'll allow me to modify your jacket and shirt master, I may have a way..."
A bit baffled Cortes nodded, handing him the garments.
Sirus urged him to eat something, some light food, while he dealt with the clothes. Even though food was the last thing on his mind, Cortes found he was able to eat a surprising amount. He just hoped he wouldn't be sick again.
He was still daydreaming when Sirus finished what he was doing. The angel looked up, seen he was zoning out, and poked his nose playfully. Cortes went cross-eyed and gave him an evil look, but he seemed to a little more cheerful as Sirus helped him with the newly modded clothes.
What he'd done was, visually assessing the wings height, stitched gaps into the clothing at the right height, so the wings could be fed through. This he gently did, being careful how he handled them, for he could tell they were still very sensitive. Very soft though..
But after a few minutes, he'd been able to get his Master comfortably attired. "Is that better Master?" he asked.
Cortes blinked, and felt the wings twitch. "Yeah, that's fine...thanks.." he said at last.
"I'll go talk to the others, I won't be long..." he tucked one last loose strand of hair behind his Masters ear again, then left to go find the Vector.
Alone in his room, Cortes fidgeted, was he being stupid, hiding like this? He didn't know..
Vector was surprised when Sirus asked to speak to him on his own. They stood at the farthest end of the room, so the kids, Mahad, Lena, Cheng and Dahlia, wouldn't overhear.
"Wings?" the Vector repeated, baffled. "how?"
"I am not sure, they started out as a slight swelling, then pushed through and started growing, very rapidly. They're near 2 and a half foot long now..they're causing master Cortes a lot of grief, he's...unhappy with this. He thinks it will affect how you all view him."
"Well tell him to stop being a dingbat, why would it affect that? Sure, it's a little bizarre, but I'm sure we can do something..."
"Cortes is a bird?" they both jumped at this, Cheng had snuck up on them.
Vector sighed "I suppose we'd best inform them all.." and, getting everyone's attention, he quietly explained the situation.
Everyone was stunned into silence.
"But how'd it happen?" Lena asked, mystified "those birds don't carry any diese, not that I know of.."
"They did, once, in fact.." the Vector said, "very serious it was too, but apparently the Sphere came up with an antidote, more then likely made so they could safeguard themselves. They tested it on the birds, and it cured them, so the anti-serum was supposedly put into storage."
"Hawuh? The sphere are into science stuff?" Mahad gaped.
"At one time, yes. But rumour has it they didn't just make an antidote, they also made a sample of the virus. Up until now there's been no proof, but perhaps what's happened to Cortes IS evidence of that..."
Dahlia frowned "so Oslo infected him with it? But, wouldn't it just make him feel sick, like the birds did? Where'd the wings come from?"
"Beats me, but they're a pain in the ass." came a voice from the doorway.
They all jumped guiltily, turning slowly to look over at the door. Cortes stood there. He looked pale still, his hair still in its untied state. He looked more then a little fidgety too, and dint quite meet their gazes. They were all staring at the wings that were protruding from his back, big enough to be easily noticeable.
"I swear they grew a few inches," he complained, breaking the silence. "they're heavy.." that said, he strode over and flopped down in a chair, folding his arms across his chest, waiting for them to quit gawping.
"Wow, they're so, pretty!" Lena exclaimed at last, scooting over to touch them. "amazing," she said, petting them.
Cortes twitched slightly "that tickles.." he laughed slightly as Lena tickled the feathers again.
Mahad stared "wonder why that happened?" he asked.
"Beats me..." Cortes shrugged. But Vector had a guess.
"My guess is, that whatever virus was used to do this, it didn't work quite the way Oslo intended, it must have combined with something in your body and mutated to an entirely new form...there were no recorded cases of a human, Sphere or otherwise, ever catching it, so its effects are unknown. Oslo must have assumed it would be the same as with the birds. And in another case, it may be, it seems it didn't take to you fully.."
"So I probably can't get rid of these then..." Cortes surmised with a sigh.
Vector looked apologetic "unfortunately not Cortes, to try and remove them would cause untold pain and damage. From what Sirus has told me, they seem to have bonded quite neatly with your nervous system, it would hurt you too much to even think about it. It'd be best for you to get used to them.."
Cortes sighed angrily, and felt what little hope he'd had fade away. He was going to be stuck like this, a living freak show.
The Vector noticed Cortes' morose expression and sighed. He'd seen the rebel leader mad plenty of times, but never in a state like this. --he's bottling everything up, he needs to talk to someone...maybe that Sirus fellow can help him. He seems oddly close to Cortes..--
Feeling frustrated Cortes pushed up from the chair, and felt a jab of pain in his chest. He winced, pressing one hand to his ribs, they were paining him again.
"You OK?" Cheng asked.
Sirus frowned, stepping up beside Cortes "you still have a fractured rib Master Cortes, I wouldn't advise you move around too much, It'd be best for you-"
Cortes had been holding back how all this was really making him feel, but now it just exploded, all the frustration, the unfairness of it all, he couldn't suppress his emotions like he usually did.
He knocked his guardians hand away, snapping "Why are you all suddenly assuming you know what's best for ME? My body may be messed up but it doesn't mean my mind is!!" He heard himself yelling this last part, mainly at Sirus. He could feel his head pounding, and his chest ached, but not from the cracked rib..
Everyone stared at him in stunned silence, nobody had ever seen him react like that, Cortes was usually such a calm, stoic person. Now he was standing in front of them all, hands clenched, hair falling into his eyes, glaring at his angel-bot guardian. He seemed angry, yet upset.
"Cortes.." the Vector stepped towards him, but Cortes wasn't willing to listen. He turned and strode off, storming out the door, slamming it behind him.
"He's so unhappy..." Lena said at last, "I could sense it almost...how much pain he's in..."
Vector sighed "I think we take him for granted, assuming he'll always be the strong one out of all of us, that he'll never suffer and cry...we've had that image of him for so long, he's forced himself to live up to it..."
Sirus sighed, he hated seeing Master Cortes upset, it made him feel sad. If he could only ease his pain somehow.
Lena looked up at him "he needs you to talk to him...he seems to listen to you..."
Mahad and Dahlia nodded, and Cheng nudged the angel-bot towards the door.
"Please help, make him feel better, somehow..."
As he left, Sirus only hoped they were right, and that Master Cortes WOULD listen..
Cortes stormed back to his room, kicking the door shut behind him. He hated feeling this helpless, unable to save himself..
Still mad at himself, at Oslo, at everything, he punched a fair size dent in the wall with his right hand, but that only gave him more pain to concern himself with...
He heard the door open behind him, and he swung round, fist still clenched, and was surprised when the intruder caught it easily and then did something very strange, but very sweet...
He heard a thumping sound as he hurried after his master, opening the door, he seen his master turn round, and swing at him. Dodging the blow, he caught Cortes hand in his and pulled his master towards him, holding onto him gently.
"Let me go, what're you doing?!" his master raged, trying to push him away with his free hand. He was getting hysterical, he had to snap him out of it, but how?
Shock him into silence seemed the best idea, so he did the best thing he thought would stun his master into a calmer state.
He pulled the other as close as he could, and as Cortes was about to start yelling at him again, he moved quickly and kissed the enraged rebel on the lips.
Cortes' whole body seemed to tense up, and when Sirus let him go, he had the look of a startled gopher on his face, eyes wide, face flushed.
"Sorry about that, but I had to scare you into thinking straight master" he explained, deciding not to mention he hadn't regretted his actions.
Cortes was having a decided difficulty even doing that. His mind was reeling. Why had his heart started pounding the moment the angel-bot had kissed him? Was he going nuts? --I shouldn't feel like this...not about...another guy. Let alone some Sphere robot-human.--
He could feel misery and confusion threatening to well up again, so he turned his back on Sirus and stared out the window at the view. "Why do you care what happens to me? And don't give me any of that "because you're my master crap", I want to know WHY?!"
"Because I want to see you happy." Sirus said simply, "I've seen you sad and unhappy since I brought you off the Sphere, just tell me what it'd take to make you feel better, and I'll do it. You didn't have to let me stay, you had the option to tell me to disregard you as my master, go back to the Sphere. For that alone, I am indebted to you, and I want to see you smile."
He stepped up to Cortes as he spoke, and reached out to brush the soft ginger hair away from its owners face, looking into those deep brown eyes. This time, when he put his arms round him, Cortes didn't object, he rested his head on Sirus' shoulder. He ran his fingers through Cortes hair, knowing this seemed to calm him somewhat.
"It's natural for humans to show how they feel, you shouldn't have to hide your emotions Master. It'll only hurt you more...I hate seeing you in so much pain."
"I.. shouldn't be acting like this, like a fool.." the human whispered sadly.
"Says who? You bear so much responsibility, you have so many people to look after, you have more right then any to get mad, get upset, cry and scream...don't think you have to act like an emotionless doll because of your job..."
Cortes knew, deep down, that Sirus was right. But was it really OK for him to feel like this? Like he'd be losing a part of himself if the guardian left him now..? He didn't understand his own feelings...
"I don't understand..." he asked at last, looking up at Sirus "why did you do THAT? You could've just punched me out, Oslo preferred that method..."
"Because I could never bring myself to hurt you master, I wouldn't want you to hate me, I know it is selfish for me to use that excuse, but its true." As he spoke, he automatically reached up and moved a few loose strands away from his masters eyes.
His heart seemed to pound even worse as he the guardians hand brushed his cheek. Then the ship jolted and the pair were knocked to the floor. Sirus blinked down at his master, who he'd practically landed on. "Sorry about that...what hit the ship?"
"Uhh...turbulence? Mahad blew something up again?" were the best guesses Cortes could manage as he got back onto his feet. He zipped out the door, tearing for the flight deck. Wayan looked round as he tore in.
"Sir, we were hit by something, a strange flying object.."
"Mahads brain?" Cortes asked.
"Ha-ha Cortes.." Mahad said sarcastically, then added "I didn't see what it was, but it came from down there.." he pointed out the window at a block just below them.
"Lets go." Cortes snapped briskly, he could use some fresh air after that little outburst, and shooting at the Sphere brigs was always a good way to relieve stress. Mahad blinked, it was rare for Cortes to come on exploration missions with them, bar that time with the Mogura.
So he, Lena, Cortes, and of course, Sirus, piled into the Hyperion and headed for the surface.
But when they landed the area was empty. Cortes motioned for them to split up and look. Mahad and lena took one way, he took the other, sirus right behind him.
The sun beat down on him and he felt a little dizzy from the heat. He squinted in the bright light, the wings twitching every so often as the slight breeze ruffled their feathers. Someone had to have fired that shot, so where were they?
"Check that way..." he told the angel-bot, "I'll try here..." he indicated a pile of old scrap metal that was almost the size of a mountain.
As he approached, the figure hidden behind the junk panicked. Who WAS this guy? Was he from that ship? He'd been testing out his new defence cannon and hadn't noticed the ship approaching, so deep was his concentration on getting it to work. Now it looked he was in deep trouble.
He blinked, the ginger haired man had gone. Vanished.
"Where'd he go" he whispered to himself. Then nearly fainted when someone grabbed his collar and hauled him to his feet. His captor pulled him round to face him and the boy felt his heart sink. It was the same guy, pissed expression, rebel pirate uniform, and...his gaze was drawn to the soft white wings that appeared to be a part of the uniform, or were they real?
"Alright, start explainin'. who are ye and what the hell were ye trying to do?" the man had a broad heavy accent, and was brandishing a deadly-looking plasma rifle.
"Uhh...my name's Jonas, I was...testing a weapon..didnt mean to hit you, honest, thought you were the Sphere!" he babbled, hoping to worm his way out of it. But the pirate wasn't having any of it, without a word he began dragging the panicking teen back towards the Hyperion. Poor Jonas nearly fainted again when he seen another winged being, but this ones wings were far bigger, and metal. And...he wore a sphere uniform.
This guy must be a decoy, wearing a fake uniform to bring him to the Sphere so they could make him finish his work. Moving quickly he jabbed his elbow up, hitting the man escorting him square in the ribs. HE felt a flash of guilt as he heard a cry of pain, but he had to run.
Hearing his masters voice, sirus whipped round, seeing Cortes clutching his ribcage in pain, and some kid bolting hell-for-leather away from him.
"Master-"
"Go after him!!" Cortes yelled, and the angel-bot obeyed, it took only a few scant seconds to catch up to the boy and tackle, pin him to the floor.
"Let me go you stupid Sphere-bot!" the kid yelled.
"You have it wrong, I am Sphere built, but Captain Cortes of the Saint Nazaire is my master."
"Who?"
"The one you seen fit to attack moments ago. He is the rebel leader."
Jonas instantly felt like a moron. He was sure to get in trouble NOW, he just beat up a rebel pirate. The one who could probably help him..
After several seconds Cortes was able to get to his feet. There was a dull pain in his chest, but he didn't think the hit had struck the cracked rib, most likely the ones just above it, causing the others to hurt.
Wrapping his arm around his aching chest, he Caught his breath as he strode over to where sirus had hauled the boy to his feet. The kid looked distinctly shifty as he seen Cortes approach.
"Master Cortes, are you alright?" the angel-bot walked over to meet him, looking concerned "is your prior fracture any worse?"
Cortes shook his head "no, its fine, I think, just a few new bruises to add to my collection." he glared at Jonas. "Lets bring our little renegade back to the nazere. Come on.." He walked off, heading back towards the Hyperion. There they met back up with Mahad and Lena, who seemed startled by the find. Nonetheless they all piled in, and the small ship flew back to the big one waiting in the skies above.
Once there, the kid was ushered into the Captains private cabin, which he normally reserved for meetings. A spacious room with a glass roof, whose walls were lined with reference books. it was a favourite relaxing spot for Lena, the sunlight helped recharge her saijin powers.
Jonas sat on the couch the ran along part of the wall, and watched the rebel leader warily. He noticed how the angel-bot seemed to fuss over his condition, fetching him pain medication and making sure he was sat down comfortably.
Once the pain had eased a little Cortes glared at Jonas, Mahad and Lena stood beside his chair.
"Alright kiddo, start explaining', what do the Sphere want ye for?"
Jonas sighed "im supposed to be building a secure cell for them, for some sort of special prisoner, it has to block out all light."
"An anti-saijin cell?!" Lena blurted looking Jonas. "What kind of person was being imprisoned?"
"I don't know, Oslo didn't tell me, he just said she was powerful, and had to be carefully contained."
"MOM!" both children cried. Cortes looked from them to Jonas "humph, you may be of some use after all. Where is this cell being built?"
"On the monolith..." Jonas said uneasily. "but you don't get it, even if I tried to sneak you guys in, you'd be shot to pieces in seconds, and unless I have the plans in front of me, I cant tell you how to get past them."
Mahad was silent for a moment, then he had an idea. When he explained it to Jonas, the kid refused right off, but after some pleading, he eventually agreed. Mahad would attach Jonas' Sphere ID tag to his clothing, and smuggle Lena onboard in a capsule.
As they talked, Cortes gripped the arms of the chair, wincing. A steady pain was starting in his back, the wings were getting ready to grow again...
Sirus looked down at him "what's the matter master Cortes? are they bothering you again?"
"I think so.." the pirate winced "it's getting really bad again.."
"Are they growing again?" Lena asked worriedly, seeing the leader in pain.
Jonas stared "Those are REAL? Just what the hell are you?"
"I WAS a normal human, then Oslo decided to screw around with me, this is HIS doing!!" Cortes snapped at him, as he got to his feet. The pain got worse and he felt about to be sick. Sirus caught his arm as he wobbled and carefully steadied him.
"You need to rest master, come on.." he nudged Cortes towards the room, "Lena and Mahad can look after our 'visitor'.."
Jonas was gob smacked as the two left. This guy was some sort of hybrid human? Oslo had turned him into it?
"What weird sort of stuff was Oslo planning with this?" he asked. Lena shrugged "we think it was originally meant to make him really ill, and from there spread the rest of the community.."
".But for some reason it changed how it infected him, and those wings showed up instead.." Mahad finished.
"Where'd that Sphere bot come from then?"
"He rescued Cortes from the monolith because he didn't think it was right what they were doing to him, and since then he's stayed right by him"
Jonas blinked "he must be really important to you then huh..."
"Damn right!" Mahad stated "he's the best sky pirate here!"
Jonas winced "he's pretty hacked off I hit him then huh?" he squeaked.
Lena frowned "He already had a broken rib from a fight with Oslo, your clocking him probably didn't help..."
The young boy sighed "sorry, I didn't know he was hurt, I thought he was a Sphere spy..ive spent so long trying to avoid them." he shifted "that guy going to be OK?"
Lena sighed "yeah, I hope so, it's just that the wings aren't at full size yet, and there causing him a lot of pain while they grow, so he needs us to help him with his work! If you want to pay him back, help us find mom!"
Jonas couldn't turn down the girls impassioned plea, he sighed and nodded, fear eating away at his stomach as he followed the two children towards the command room to meet the others.
Whee...sorry this took so long...i was 3/4 of the way through correcting the chapter segment, and sodding Microsoft Works (no it smeggin' well does NOT) decided to lock up and refuse to save. Further proving my computer has the brains of a lemming, every other program proceeded to do the same thing. End result: forced shutdown, which wiped the document, meaning i had to recorrect the section for this chpater ALL over AGAIN.
Random Fact: I think i broke the record for: "Most Profanity Used In The Presence Of A Malfunctioning Computer". FKING LAPTOP.