"Here."

Mahad was walking in front of the Guardian, but turned at the command. During the short journey he had briefly considered an escape attempt. But he knew there was easily enough ambient light that Blake would have no issues calling up his powers. That and the man was twice his size and probably four times as strong. Even Mahad recognised when a risk was too great to take.

Blake had paused in front of a door, opened it, and now gestured Mahad inside. Mahad stepped through and immediately spotted Cortes. The man was tied to a chair in the centre of the room, his face bruised and his left eye nearly swollen shut. "Cortes!" Mahad exclaimed, taking a step towards him, "are you…"

He got no further, because a hand grasped him by the shoulder and flung him roughly aside into the wall. "Ow! Hey…" Mahad winced as he rubbed his shoulder.

Blake stepped past him and stood over Cortes, his sheer bulk menacing in itself.

Cortes looked up, his eyes briefly resting on Mahad. "Why's he here?" he rasped. His voice was strained, and his shoulders were shaking as if under great tension. Despite that, and the fact he looked like absolute hell, he still seemed to be coherent and not all that intimidated by Blake.

"Your friends," Blake replied. "The other two. They've escaped and sabotaged the engines."

Cortes said nothing.

"Look, I'm going to make this easy for you," Blake growled. "I don't have much time, and I can't find them. Christophe's your brother. Maybe you have some idea…"

"What makes you think I'm going to talk now, even if I knew what he was up to?" Cortes snarled. Maybe he was shaking because he was angry, Mahad thought. He knew what Cortes angry looked like. And this… this was worse than that.

"That's why he's here…" Blake grinned as he turned towards Mahad.

Mahad's attention snapped back to what was going on, realising he was in danger. But he was not fast enough to really react. "Wait…" he managed to get out, right before Blake grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back against the wall. Then he slammed his other fist into Mahad's stomach.

Mahad gasped, wrapped his arms around his middle and slid to the floor.

"Leave him alone!" Cortes barked.

Mahad forced himself to look up, gulping in air. Where was Blake? The Guardian came back into focus, standing over him with a fist raised. He was drawing in sunlight, his hand beginning to glow blue. A wicked grin was plastered across his face.

"I made Emily no promise about how I would treat your little friend here. He's of no particular use to the Sphere. I just wish I'd thought of this sooner…"

Mahad's legs shook as he pushed himself up the wall. He still hugged himself tightly about his middle. This was going to hurt anyway. He might as well take it standing up, rather than cowering in the corner.

"Stop!"

Blake glanced in Cortes' direction, expecting a result. What he got was thrown bodily into the door; Cortes hurtling up from the chair like a coiled spring and smashing his shoulder into the man's chest.

Blake grunted, but then Seijin energy burst from his body and knocked Cortes back into the chair. "Fool…" he growled, pushing away from the door.

Outside, there was a flash and a deafening crack. And then a quickly growing roar. It took Mahad a few seconds to recognise the sound. Rain. And as the clouds moved over the ship the sunlight dimmed, and the energy around the Guardian's fists fizzled out.

Cortes staggered back to his feet.

Blake looked down at his hands, but seemed only momentarily perturbed by the retreat of his powers. He caught sight of Cortes' movement. "I suggest you sit back down."

Cortes raised his arms in front of his body, hands shakily balling into fists. They were bloodied already, his shirt sleeves stained crimson. Mahad realised he must have done more damage to himself then to his bonds in order to get free. The pirate captain's eyes were blazing, but he looked unsteady. Mahad glanced at Blake. In contrast the man seemed calm, not even taking on a defensive stance. Cortes still wouldn't stand a chance!

Blake let out a short laugh. "Suit yourself." He drew back his right arm, and then raised it high, intending to drop Cortes with a single blow. He let fly.

And Cortes moved. The Guardian's blow shied past Cortes' body. Cortes grabbed his wrist, pulled him further off balance, and then pushed his free hand into the back of the man's elbow. Mahad heard a crack, and Blake cried out. Cortes wrenched the arm behind Blake's back, then forced him to the ground and pinned him there.

Still Blake struggled, threatening to topple the lighter man from his back. Cortes grabbed the back of the Guardian's head and smashed his face into the metal decking. He pulled back the man's head again, and again slammed it to the floor.

Mahad pressed back against the wall. Cortes ignored him completed, entirely focused on Blake and apparently doing as much damage as he could. As he slammed the man's already bloodied face once more into the ground, Mahad suddenly doubted he would stop until he'd shattered the Guardian's skull completely. He felt a pang of fear, but he finally forced himself away from the wall. "Cortes… Cortes!" He finally had to shout to get the man's attention.

Cortes looked up, fixing that rage filled glare on Mahad. He stopped his assault on Blake, but still held him firmly by the back of the head.

"I think you've… you've got him…" Mahad stuttered.

Cortes looked down at Blake, breathing heavily.

Surprisingly, Blake was still semi-conscious. He moaned. "Imagine…" he slurred. "Emily… would think…"

Cortes lips twisted into a scowl and his arm shook as he pulled back Blake's head once more.

"Cortes!"

Cortes slammed the Guardian's head into the deck plating again. But as that was done he rapidly pushed himself away from the now still body. He stood straight, hands shaking, chest heaving.

Mahad stared at the Guardian's body. "You had him… you didn't have to kill him like that!"

Cortes swallowed and fixed Mahad with a glare. "He's not dead." He stepped past the boy towards the door.

Mahad looked again at Blake's body, and saw his back rise. "Just…" he muttered. Cortes was gone. Mahad followed him out into the corridor, where he found him leaning against the bulkhead. Cortes was looking at a number on the wall, apparently some sort of location. "You alright?" he asked.

Cortes blinked and pushed away from the wall. "I'm fine." He looked down at Mahad. "You?"

"Er…" Mahad dropped the arm he still held to his stomach. He felt a little queasy, but one look at Cortes made him realise that he didn't really have much to complain about. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Good." Cortes stomped off up the corridor.

"Hey, wait…" said Mahad, jogging to catch up. His heart was still pounding and he wasn't sure whether it was Blake or Cortes who had made him so jumpy. Either way, he was starting to calm down. Now he was just worried about what they were going to do to escape. And also whether Cortes was actually alright. He didn't know what Blake had actually done to him… especially because it had apparently made him so mad. "You sure you're alright?"

"I said I was, didn't I?" Cortes growled. He walked with a hand out to the wall, his fingertips brushing along it. Mahad wondered if he was trying to keep himself steady.

"Okay. But we could find the ship's infirmary if you wanted…"

"What we need to find are some weapons," said Cortes. "Blake is down for a bit, but we've still got Emily to worry about…"

Mahad shrugged. "It's not like she could use her powers…"

Cortes harrumphed.

"Do you even know where we're going?"

"I make it my business to know how to get around as many of the Sphere's ships as I can," Cortes replied.

Sure enough within a few short minutes Cortes had found a weapons locker. It looked like this particular room on the ship this was situated in was for emergency stock.

"The security on this ship is atrocious," Cortes growled. "It must be old…" He took a hold of the handle to the locker and gave it a tug. This too was old and screeched horribly as Cortes pulled at it. He snarled and gave it a vicious yank. Then he pulled back with a yelp and grabbed his wrist.

"Jeesh…" said Mahad. "What did you do to yourself?"

"I didn't tie myself to that damn chair…" Cortes hissed. He held up his hands. Fresh blood seeped from the slices in his wrists and into his shirt sleeves. "Damn…"

"There's a first aid kit…" Mahad pointed to a faded green box next to the weapons locker. "You should be looking in there first. Or maybe you should have listened to me."

Cortes glared, but went and sat down with a sigh on a crate next to the box. "You check the weapons locker. You'll probably find that interesting. We don't know if that storm is going to last – their powers may come back. You'll need something better then your boomerang…"

Mahad closed his eyes briefly. "Yeah…" he reached into his jacket and pulled out one half of the boomerang. "Especially since Blake broke it…"

Cortes opened the box, shuddering slightly as he moved his hands. "Well that's a tragedy."

Mahad tossed his hands in the air. He hadn't even done anything! He turned back to the weapon's locker. He yanked the door and got it open, stumbling back. There were a number of weapons hanging at the back. Four smaller ones were at the top. They were a dull grey, with glowing blue energy pulsating around the barrel. Below these were two larger rifles. They were like the ones the pirates used, but made from the same grey metal. They also looked like they'd pack more of a punch. Mahad smiled.

"Damn it!"

Mahad looked around the locker door to see Cortes had a roll of bandages out, and had started to wrap that around his left wrist. Unfortunately, he'd just dropped it and it'd rolled away from him. He now glared at it. Mahad sighed. Well, at least Cortes wasn't annoyed at just him. In fact, his frustration was probably understandable. And here he was complaining about his boomerang. "Here…" He went over and picked it up the roll. "I can do it."

"I'll manage…"

"What? One handed? The quicker we fix you up, then the quicker we can get those weapons and take over this ship. That's what you want isn't it?"

Cortes glared at him, but then his gaze softened. He looked away at the ground, but held his arms forward.

It didn't take Mahad long to finish wrapping up Cortes wrists. It didn't look pretty, but it was probably a better job then Cortes would have been able to do to himself. "There."

Cortes flexed his hand. He grimaced, but didn't complain. Then he sighed. "Thanks, Mahad. I'm just… we shouldn't have gotten into this mess in the first place. I should've been more careful." He scowled. "Doesn't help when you've got bloody, manipulative Guardians…"

Mahad almost wasn't sure whether he meant Emily or Blake. "Yeah, well I'm glad you didn't kill him anyway…" Again, he was fixed with a glare. "Well… wouldn't that make you just as bad as them?"

He thought Cortes was going to snap at him again, but instead the man just shook his head. "I wish it was that black and white. But I don't want to have this discussion now." He changed the subject. "What's in the locker?"

Mahad pulled down one of the big guns. "Two of these. Four little ones." He was desperately hoping Cortes would let him use one of the big ones.

Cortes stood to his feet. "We'll take one of each. And stop smiling like that. You might actually have to use one."

Mahad didn't think that sounded so bad.

Emily had been pacing the bridge. Blake was taking far too long to get back to her! She'd waited, patiently at first. She didn't want him to think her unnecessarily worried. After all, things weren't that out of hand.

Then the storm had hit. She couldn't hear it directly in the confines of the bridge, save for the creakings of the water carrier about her. But she had the external sound pickups on and could hear the water carrier being buffeted and the wind howling. The crash of thunder could be heard, and eventually she had to turn the sound down. The clouds had overtaken the stricken water carrier and blocked out the sunlight. This meant that she and Blake may no longer hold such an advantage… assuming their prisoners had actually escaped.

Eventually, she'd decided that he'd taken long enough. It was perfectly logical to check in on his progress, especially in this type of situation.

She sent the communication to his handheld. There was no response. "Blake!" she barked, trying to keep the apprehension out of her voice. "Please respond!" Nothing. "Have you checked the engine room yet? The prisoners?" Still no reply.

What if one of the pirates had gotten to him? Her uncle… No. Emily shut down that thought. She couldn't know for sure if that were true. She stepped over to the Brig at the communications console and shoved it aside. Then she accessed the ship-wide communications. "Blake, if you can hear me please respond!" Again, there was nothing. Emily snarled. Everything was falling apart. She slammed her hand down on the control that would send her voice across the ship. "Blake, I'm coming down to the engine room to see what I can do!"

She called three of the Brigs to her side and headed towards the bridge door. Briefly she paused. The pirates would have heard what she'd said… but it was of no matter. If they came for her she was less likely than Blake to be harmed. And she couldn't send the Brigs. If Blake was hurt then she'd have to help him. The Brigs were too stupid to handle that.

"Don't let anyone onto the bridge," she ordered the Brigs who remained. "Except for myself, or Blake. If anyone else tries to enter…" Here she paused. The pirates had chosen to sabotage the vessel. Her vessel. If they chose to attack the bridge against all these Brigs, well, whatever happened to them would be their own fault. The only one she was really worried about was her father. But maybe they'd be smart enough to give up? She scowled. Why was she thinking about this? Her first concern was the success of this mission; secondly the safety of herself and Blake.

"If anyone else tries to enter," she said firmly, "then kill them."