The Ribbon

by Blaze118

Six years before the Demons of Razgiz ruled the skies over Yuktobania and Belka, a lone ace was known to the world only by his call sign; Mobius 1. With a heart full of anger and a lost will to live, he must face his own demons to learn what it means to be alive and human. I recommend reading my other story, The Aces of Razgriz first.

11. The Northern Eye

Chapter 10 – The Northern Eye

Friday, October 8, 2004 Wesson, Osea

"So, where would you like to go for dinner?" I asked Miranda as I put away my saxophone.

"Surprise me," she replied and she walked off to put her color guard flags away.

Marching band practice had just let out and everyone was packing up to head out for the day. I usually stayed behind to chat with some of my friends and Amanda usually did the same thing before she had to head to the bus parking lot. My friend Justin, who played one of the bass drums in the drum line, knew about the promise I made to Miranda. Justin and I met when we were in middle school. He liked the idea of becoming a pilot as much as I did, but I think he was more into the idea of becoming a soldier. Justin had shaggy blonde hair, brown eyes, and a beard that he always kept trimmed. Justin was one of the nicest guys that anyone could ever know, but I kind of felt like his family's constant misfortune made him that way. Last year, his brother died in a car wreck and his closest cousin was killed during a mugging. Justin was never pessimistic about anything. Anyways, he, along with Terry, James, and Jared kept asking me about my 'date' with Miranda. Terry was a scrawny white guy who was a jack of all trades whom we called Tack. He was more into beat boxing and dancing than anything else. Everyone liked him because he was so versatile. Jared was a pretty big red headed red neck that Dustin and I knew. He was a volunteer fire fighter who play guitar in the front ensemble. He was pretty damn good at it too. Jared was more paranoid than I was. He wouldn't even tell me where he lived when I had to drop him off at his house once.

"So where are you gonna take her?" asked Justin.

"The hell if I know. There's nowhere here that she probably hasn't been to," I said.

"Why don't you just cook for her then," asked James.

"No, that's only something you do for your girlfriend or a group of friends," said Tack.

"I thought they were dating. Weren't you," asked Jared.

"No, I was going to take her to a fast food place or something," I replied and they all looked at me like I was stupid. "What? She told me to surprise her."

"You cannot be serious!" We all looked to see that Melissa had overheard our conversation along with Shelby. "You should take Miranda somewhere decent."

"Yeah, take her to that Mongolian place where they cook your food in front of you," said Shelby.

I knew the place they were talking about and I had to admit that that place was one of my favorite restaurants. "Alright, alright, I'll take her there," I said and everyone dropped the subject.

When the bell rang, everyone I knew headed out of the school while I made my way towards the library. I was using this as my cover to convince my mom that I was still working on base, because I never told her about how Miranda and I trashed the library. Today was pretty easy since we got most of the work done for the past week and we got to take it easy today. I ended up laying on one of the couches, listening to my music while Miranda tried doing the rest of her pre-calculus homework. I already did it in class and I just took everything easy. Time just seemed to creep by while I waited for Mrs. Bell to let us go.

"Antonio, can you help me?" asked Miranda.

"Depends on what it is," I said.

"Can you help me out with this homework?"

Jesus Christ, this stuff is so easy. I groaned as I got up and headed for the table that Miranda was sitting at. She was visibly frustrated as she held her head in her hand while looking over her note book. The other problems she answered were correct and it didn't look like she was having any trouble at all. "Three pi over two," I said.

"I know that, but I don't know how I would show my work. Every time I try and do it, Richardson can't keep up and she deducts points."

"Big deal, I never show my work and she thought that she could stick it to me on all the tests and quizzes. Finally, she just gave up."

"Jeez, I thought you only got under the skin of people like me," said Miranda.

"An asshole like me can get under anyone's skin. I just decide who to annoy," I said and Miranda gave me that annoyed look of hers. "What?"

"You annoy anybody that you feel like?"

"I'm not that mean. I just stick it to people who try to act bigger than they really are, or if they annoy the crap out of me."

"Seems like everyone annoys you," muttered Miranda.

"You're right."

Miranda went back to doing her work and I sat at the table with her in case she still needed my help. The silence made me rather uneasy and I kind of wanted to start up some kind of conversation to ease the awkwardness. Mrs. Bell let us go around four thirty and we walked towards the parking lot together. While we were walking by the cultural arts building, I heard that girl with the beautiful voice singing again and I stopped to take in the sweet sound. She didn't sound like anyone I knew in the choir. The 'best' singer in the school didn't sound as good as this girl, nor was she able to impress me like this.

"What is it?" asked Miranda.

"It's nothing, let's go." I still wanted to know who that girl was and every time I tried going in the building, she would hurry up and leave. Whenever I tried looking for clues, there weren't any so I didn't try so hard whenever I tried finding out, except for the smell of lavender body lotion. There were a number of girls in the school who used that kind, so it still wasn't enough for me to go off of. Anyways, Miranda and I made it out to the parking lot and she headed to her car. "So am I going to follow you home so I know where to pick you up tonight?"

"Sure, why not."

We both got in our cars and began to head home. I didn't know where Miranda lived, but I deduced that she had to live close to me because of the amount of time she took to break into my house two months ago. She had to live close to Becca as well in order to fit the time frame. I was right to assume this because I followed Miranda into the same neighborhood I lived in and followed her down a street that was out of my way whenever I left my house which was why I've never had any clue as to where she lived. What sucked even more was that she lived within walking distance of my house. Well this is just great. Miranda pulled into her driveway and I parked behind her and walked to my house. It only took me a total of twenty minutes to walk home, take a shower, get changed, and walk back to Miranda's house. She was still getting ready when I came back and she told me through text to just ring the doorbell when I arrived. It was supposed to be easy, right? That's what I thought until I was met by Captain Ortiz, pointing a M1911 at my head. I fought the urge to turn it around on her, but I knew that if I tried then one of us might end up dead.

"What the hell are you doing here?" growled Captain Ortiz.

"I'm here to keep a promise to Miranda," I said.

"The one about you killing her," asked the Captain again as her finger started to close around the trigger.

I wanted to tell her that Miranda would already be dead if that were the case, but I was already struggling to keep my fight instinct under control. Captain Ortiz already hated me for being another subject from Project Pitbull so I could understand why Miranda didn't tell her that I was taking her to dinner.

"Would you believe me if I said 'no'," I said and she seemed to relax a little but she still kept her gun pointed at me. I couldn't stand being held at gun point any longer and I seized the opportunity to disarm Captain Ortiz. I quickly snatched the pistol out of her hand and unloaded it before I handed it back to her. "May you please put your knife away too?"

Captain Ortiz had pulled a knife on me, ready to stab me in the gut if I tried anything and I was lucky that she stopped herself. She slowly pulled her knife away from my abdomen and gave me a very uneasy look. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm taking Stinson out to dinner," I said and Ortiz just looked at me like I had just tried to explain string theory to her. "She didn't tell you?"

"Didn't you two try killing each other two months ago?"

"Yeah, and?"

"How do I know that you aren't going to do the same thing if I let you two leave here?"

"She'll be the one who'd come back alive if that were the case," I said. Ortiz knew that Miranda had 'won' our fight and I said that to reassure her that we weren't up to anything. She gave me the stink eye before she let me inside her house and offered me a seat. I began to construct a profile of Captain Ortiz and all I came up with was that she took her job very seriously. She had all of her accolades placed on her mantel and display cabinets. The house was kept spotless and I was told to take my shoes off before I set foot on the carpet. I thought this was kind of dumb considering that there was evidence that they had a dog. When I took a seat on the sofa, Ortiz took one right as well and glared at me. I could tell where this was going and I was totally ready for it. Here comes the speed round.

"What are you doing here?" she asked me again.

"Taking Miranda to dinner," I replied quickly.

"Why?"

"I promised her I would."

"Why did you make this promise?"

"That's classified."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know yet."

"Whose car are you taking?"

"Mine."

"What time do you plan on having her back here?"

"Before nine o'clock."

"Are you a virgin?"

"I'm in no rush to change that."

"Does Harkin know about this date?"

"It's not a date."

"Does Harkin know?"

"Yes."

"What did he say?"

"Compliment her."

"Does he mind that you two are going out?"

"I guess not."

Before Ortiz could ask me another question, Miranda came down the stairs and motioned for me to follow her. I didn't waste any time getting up to quickly follow her out the door. We got in my car and quickly peeled out of the drive way. Miranda was in a rush to get out of there, but I was just trying to complete my profile on her mentor. When I looked over at Miranda, I could tell that she was upset about something. She was shooting angry glances at me like it was my fault that I pissed her off. Compliment her. I didn't know where to start. I could've told her that she looked cute in her white dress and black high heels or the blue flower hair clip on the right side of her head. Holy crap, she's cute. Wait, why did she dress up like this? Why do I think she looks cute? I still didn't say anything to her as we arrived at Shoguns. Miranda told me that she wanted to come here along the way so I brought her. The place was pretty empty and Miranda and I got set up at the Hibachi. I was getting more anxious the longer we sat at the grill and Miranda just seemed to grow more pissed. The cook seemed just as anxious as I did because he was watching Miranda twirl her steak knife in her hand. When he was finally done cooking, he quickly cleaned the grill and left us alone. Miranda was picking at her food while she continued to play with the knife. My anxiety was at its peak and I felt like I was going to kill someone unless I said something.

"How…"

"Your hair looks pretty," I blurted out, cutting Miranda off. Miranda blushed as she looked at me in shock and her knife fell on the floor. I quickly looked away and I started to regret what I said. Okay, this is really uncomfortable, get away quickly! "Waitress, may I please get the check and a couple of to-go boxes?"

The waitress I hailed quickly got what I asked for and we left after I paid for the meal. I just wanted this night to end ASAP. Miranda still seemed rattled at the comment I made about her hair being pretty and I had no clue how to follow up the compliment while we drove back to her place. I sighed to myself in defeat and I just decided to leave it at that.

"Thank you," mumbled Miranda.

"For what," I asked.

"For dinner and the compliment, I never thought you'd ever be able to make me blush."

Neither did I. "Yeah," I sighed. "Were you going to say something before?"

"I… was going to ask about what we talked about last time we went out to eat and about your last mission. What's it like flying for your life?"

"It's fast. Everything thing just happens like that," I said as I snapped my fingers. "One wrong decision can cost you up there. If someone hadn't watched my back last time, I probably wouldn't have been able to keep this promise to you."

"Were you scared at all?"

"Not as much as I was last time. I still don't care for my own life as much as I do Danny's, but he's the only reason that I try to survive now."

"I know you've already answered this question a bunch of times, but I still don't fully understand. Why do you want to die so badly?"

"I just don't think I should be alive."

"Why, what reasons are there for you to just give up on everything?" asked Miranda.

"I almost died during the Curtis attack and if it weren't for Pitbull, I would've died. I would've chosen death over all the crap they put us through. The drugs, the training, the torture… How do you cope with something like that?" I asked.

"I know what you mean, but you think of things as they are instead of something that it could be. Yeah, they did all that stuff to us, but I see that as a second chance. We've been given amazing abilities that we could use for more than just tactical purposes. We can do so much good in the world if you think about it."

"I wouldn't call assassinating dictators and kingpins, or spying on different countries, 'good'."

"That's not what I meant. I meant things like helping countries that are still developing or maybe something like those DEA raids you were a part of. You actually reduced the crime rate in this city."

I didn't say anything as I pulled into Miranda's drive way and shut off my car because I couldn't talk about it. I wanted to tell her that things didn't work out the way the DEA had hoped they would. When she got out, she motioned for me to follow her and I did without thinking. I followed her until she was outside her front door and when she turned to look at me, I could see that she was blushing for some reason and I had no idea why. All I did was take her out to dinner and compliment her. "I'm going to take you up on your word," said Miranda as she turned my head to the side and proceeded to kiss me on my cheek. I don't know what it was that I was feeling, but my heart took off racing, my knees almost gave out, and my face turned beat red. I was tense beyond belief and I couldn't hide my surprise. Miranda had the same reaction I did and I couldn't move from where I was standing. It seemed like an eternity passed before she slowly turned around and headed into her house while I stood outside for another minute before I slowly walked away and got in my car to head home. I feel weird.

Sunday, October 10, 2004 1628hrs, Mt. Shezna, Usea

My mind hasn't been all the way focused since Friday and everyone knew it. I wasn't able to pay attention to our mission briefing before we took off from the carrier. Thatch was kind enough to repeat the mission briefing for me and I thanked him for it. Our mission was to destroy a radar network located on top of Mt. Shezna so that the remaining ISAF forces could regroup at St. Ark in North Point without the Eruseans watching them. Blinding the Eruseans would keep them guessing as to where ISAF's troops were gathering for their counter attack. The Fort Grace was supposed to be part of the retreating forces so it was positioned not too far from our AO, which was a good thing because I could carry more ordinances instead of external fuel tanks. I was equipped with four sidewinders, four AMRAAMs, six 500lb bombs, and explosive incendiary rounds for my gun. The mountains located in our AO were something to behold. The mountains stretched as far as the eye could see and it reminded me of when Major Harkin took me to the Meili Mountains to learn about spiritual enlightenment. The snow covered mountains and valleys made it hard to see because it was so bright. The tinted visor on my flight helmet wasn't enough to dim things, so I put on my aviators under it. With that taken care of, I was all set to get everything over with.

"This combat area is within enemy airspace. Keep an eye out for bandits. Use vector 180 to return home after destroying the target," said Sky Eye over the radio.

"Like we didn't know that already," muttered Danny.

I rolled my eyes at his comment and shifted my focus on my mission. There were two enemy radar contacts ahead and Colonel Fujima and his wingman sped off to engage them while the rest of us continued on towards our target. The enemy radar blips appeared on my HUD and we all armed our bombs.

"Halo 2, engage," said Thatch.

"Omega 11, engage," said Dahl.

"Mobius 1, engage," I said and we all rolled over into a dive on the first set of radar arrays.

The first radar was on a smaller mountain than the others. Dahl went after it while I followed Thatch as he dove on the next pair of radar dishes that were located on a higher peak. What we didn't know was that the Erusians had set up a few AA defenses around them until they started firing at us. Thatch broke off his attack so that he could draw the AA gun's fire while I dropped a bomb right on top of it and another on the radar it was protecting. I pulled out of the dive to regroup with Thatch, but he had two enemy F-5s coming after him.

"Halo 2, bandits at your three o' clock," I called out.

"Bear, do you see them?" asked Thatch.

"Dah, brake right, Mobius 1, engage them."

I turned to head after the enemy fighters and I watched as they over shot their mark on Thatch and Glinka. The first fighter didn't know that I was approaching them from behind and I thought it'd be best if I didn't lock onto him with a missile. Thatch was holding his left turn and he wasn't going to loosen up until I forced the enemy flight lead to break off his attack. However, I couldn't pull enough lead and I had a sudden flash back to when I was training with Harkin and Solo. Do a barrel roll! I snapped the stick back and to the left so that my Phantom performed a wide left roll outside of the spiral. As I completed the roll, I had finally acquired an angle on the trailing F-5 and fired my gun into his left wing root. The F-5 spun out of control and the other fighter broke off his attack. Thatch told me to go after him and I latched onto the Erusean's tail. I could tell that this pilot had less experience than I was because of the way he maneuvered. The F-5 wasn't pulling complete turns and whenever it did, it never held them long enough to shake me. I could only assume that it couldn't withstand the G effects for long. The F-5's maneuvers were easy to predict after the first five seconds and I was able to keep my gun sight on it easily. My finger slowly closed around the trigger but before my gun roared to life, Colonel Fujima's F-5 shot in front of me and sent me into a spiral when his jet wash hit me.

"Shit, hang on, Razor," I said as I tried to correct my plane's flight path. The spiral wasn't as severe as the one Miranda sent me into, but it still took some time for me to pull out of the spin. I wanted to swear at the Colonel, but I knew I'd catch hell from Harkin if I started shit with my flight lead.

"Sir, watch it next time," said Danny.

"Shut the fuck up!" shouted Fujima.

Hmm… he's all about his ego I see. I now had the Colonel figured out. He was too prideful and I knew that he would sacrifice us in order to make sure he got his glory. But there was something I wanted to test first. He was still chasing after the enemy F-5 and Danny quickly acquired a lock on it. The Colonel was in the way and there was the chance that I could kill him on accident, but I knew how to get around that. "Colonel, break left, you got a bandit on your tail," I called out. The Colonel didn't ignore me like the others and he broke off his attack from the enemy's tail, leaving it open for me to attack. I sent an AMRAAM towards it and blew the enemy fighter in half. It wasn't until after I confirmed the kill that Fujima realized that I had lied about the enemy that was chasing him. I looked over at the last radar station on top of the first mountain and saw Thatch drop another pair of bombs on it. With our first set of targets destroyed, we changed heading towards the northwest and headed for the next radar stations. It wasn't long before Sky Eye called out another formation of enemy fighters headed for us. I wasn't as nervous as before, but the fact that I tested a sadistic ego maniac had me a little on edge. Fujima was trailing me as I headed for the closest radar array. I was hoping to slip in undetected by flying at low altitude, but one element of the enemy formation began to dive on Fujima and me. The Colonel broke off from my tail and I was hoping that he was going to engage the enemy fighters, but he didn't. I figured that he'd try to leave me for dead and I felt myself growing angry.

It's really difficult to describe what goes through my head when I enter, what I call, a blood rage. I lose control of all rational thought and I act on instinct. This was another ability that was given to me by those assholes at Pitbull. The drug they gave me targeted the adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin, and frontal lobe of my brain. This caused me to act on raw instinct rather than rational thought. This blood rage was part of the reason I was able to escape Pitbull. The last time I had this feeling was when Amanda got shot at the bank, but that was only a minor episode. Believe it or not, when I fought Miranda in the library, it wasn't even close to a blood rage. I never felt the full effects of it, but I knew that it could be bad if I ever did. However, the state I was in wasn't near a full on rage. I still knew that I had to keep control of my plane and my training started to kick in better than before.

I turned into the enemy fighters and climbed up after them. Colonel Fujima had slipped by them unnoticed because he was already gunning for another unsuspecting enemy. The enemy fighters turned out to be enemy F-16s and I knew that this would be a hell of a lot harder than the other dogfights I've been part of. My Phantom was faster than their F-16s and had a better service ceiling, but it didn't have as great of a rate of climb. If they were as good of pilots as I hoped they weren't, then they would've known this as well. I opened fire on them as I opened the throttle and shot past them as I continued to climb. Both of the enemy fighters broke off in confusion, but they quickly regrouped and climbed after me. My engines were roaring and I kept a close eye on all of my instruments so that I didn't over stress my engines. I broke fifty thousand feet and the F-16s had finally gotten within missile range, but they didn't fire. My master caution was blaring inside my headset and I was waiting for the enemy fighters to launch their missiles at me. When I looked in my rearview mirror, one of the F-16s began to shudder and nosed over into a stall. Not long after, the other fighter stalled out as well. I didn't waste any time pulling back on the stick and going after the fighters as they recovered from their stall. The first enemy I locked onto had entered into a flat spin stall and tumbled helplessly out of the sky. The fighter didn't look like it would be able to recover, but I didn't want to take any chances. I fired my gun into the center of the fuselage and watched it continue to fall out of the sky in flames. I then gunned my engines again and went after the last F-16. It was picking up speed and dove away into the mountains. As I followed the enemy plane through the valleys, I couldn't help but wonder why we weren't in a turning fight. The F-16 could easily out turn me, but it tried speeding away when I clearly had the advantage in this kind of fight. The enemy plane was flying so close to the cliff faces that snow and pebbles began to pelt my plane that was kicked up from his jet wash. My Phantom kept pace with the F-16 through every twist and turn and even when it dumped its airspeed and pulled its airbrake. I mimicked the maneuver, but I slowly started to slip in front of the enemy fighter. In order to dump a little more speed, I pulled up over the F-16 and rolled back into position behind my target. I was lucky that the F-16 started to pick up speed again; otherwise I would've stalled and crashed into the mountain. After it picked up enough speed the enemy plane pulled into a tight left bank and headed for the radar array on top of the mountain further to the north. Danny was having a hard time locking onto my target and once he had it, the Erusian rolled inverted and pulled a negative G climb over the mountain. I didn't know if this was to confuse me or if it was to quickly dive away once he cleared the mountain. However, I didn't give him the chance. I sent a sidewinder up his tail pipe and blew off the entire tail section. The F-16 exploded and veered to the right and crashed onto one of the radar arrays.

"Nice one, Zorro," said Danny.

"He's going to have to try a lot harder to kill me," I muttered.

"Mobius 1, he's on you! Turn hard!" shouted Thatch.

No sooner did Thatch warn me did I hear bullets rip into my plane's fuselage. Another F-16 was diving on me and I couldn't get out of the way in time before more rounds made their way up my left wing and into the side of the cockpit. One bullet impacted the instrument panel and sent shrapnel flying towards me. My flight vest and helmet took most of the punishment, but a few pieces still found their way into me. Blood had sprayed against my canopy and obscured my field of view slightly. The adrenaline rush I was experiencing suppressed all the pain I was feeling and I quickly regained control of my plane. The enemy F-16 was still diving on me from my eight o' clock high and I broke hard left. The plane streaked past under me and I rolled inverted to dive after him. My HUD was shot to hell and I had to use my best judgment when I used my gun. I don't know if it was the blood that was splattered on the canopy or if it was just the adrenaline, but all I could see was red as I sent a long stream of 20mm cannon shells into the cockpit of the enemy jet and watched as flames and smoke spewed out of the derelict hunk of metal.

"Mobius 1 are you alright?" asked Thatch.

"I'm fine," said Danny. "Zorro, are you okay?"

"I took some shrapnel but I'm still good," I said as I pulled into a right bank and headed for the remaining radar arrays. I was lucky that my weapon systems were still operational and I proceeded to drop some bombs on the radar tower. When I pulled back up into a climb to assess the damage, I saw Colonel Fujima looking at me. He took off his oxygen mask and I could see that he was giving me an evil grin. I now knew just what to expect from this guy and I was glad that I did what I did, even though it did cause me some minor injuries. "I'm more than capable, Colonel. You shouldn't underestimate my abilities," I said. The Colonel's grin slowly vanished when he heard what I said.

"You should learn your place, boy," he retorted and he dove back into the fight.

There was another pair of enemy F-16 heading for our AO and the Colonel and his wingman wasted no time in trying to shoot down the enemy fighters. Fujima began to follow his target into an inverted barrel roll and I could see that he was firing wildly at the Erusean plane. It didn't look like it was going to get away, but the enemy fighter did something that surprised me. It led the Colonel to higher altitude and nosed over into a power dive. The Colonel followed his target without hesitation and was gaining on him pretty quickly, but Fujima was led into a trap. When the Colonel was close enough, the enemy plane pulled up as hard as it could and stalled out. The maneuver was similar to Pugachev's Cobra, except the enemy plane did it while diving. Fujima was forced to over shoot and he was now the prey in this situation. His wingman had seen everything that just happened and tried diving on the enemy fighter, but he too fell for the same maneuver. The F-16 quickly nosed forward and fired its gun into Fujima's wingman's cockpit and I watched as my squadron mate's F-5 fell out of the sky. Fujima didn't say anything as he tried to reengage the enemy fighter. The way he flew was no different than before and I knew for sure that I was right about him. As much as I didn't want to try and save this guy, I had to. I dove after the attacker and Danny was able to acquire a lock and I fired an AMRAAM. The enemy F-16 broke hard right and avoided my missile. However, he didn't know that I was still tracking him and I sent a sidewinder his way. He then broke hard left and avoided it too. His evasive maneuvers allowed me to close the distance on him and get within gun range so that I could unload some lead into his elevators. The F-16 lost its ability to climb or dive and it couldn't recover when it nosed into a dive.

The skies were now clear and I headed in to attack the last radar towers. Dahl and Frost were trying to attack the facilities on their own, but they were taking too much heat from the AA defenses. Thatch moved in to take out the guns while I capitalized on the distraction to drop my remaining bombs on the radar towers. With all enemy fighters dealt with and all primary targets destroyed, we waited for our next orders from Sky Eye.

"Sky Eye here, enemy radar facilities confirmed destroyed. All aircraft, take vector 180 south."

We all changed our heading south so that we could all RTB and I began to relax a little. My adrenaline rush began to subside and I could feel the pain in my arms and legs that was caused by the shrapnel. My arms had several pieces of metal sticking out of them and my legs only suffered minor scratches. However, I also felt a sharp pain coming from my abdomen, above and to the left of my right hip. When I looked down, I saw a piece of shrapnel the size of a credit card, sticking out of me. A large amount of blood had seeped out of the wound and it drenched my lap. I took off my sunglasses and oxygen mask, dug out a bandage from my survival kit and set it on my knee in preparation for me to place it over my wound. As I set it on my knee, the wind began to pick up and the bandage flew out of the hole in my canopy. I tried grabbing it before it flew away, but my left arm went numb and my right arm started to hurt like hell. In order to stop that from happening again, I set the next bandage under my left arm and then I turned my attention to the large piece of shrapnel. I grabbed the debris with my good hand and took a few deep breaths before I took it out. I couldn't make any noise that would let the others know that I was wounded or else Danny would start to bitch. In hindsight, I think it might've been best if I let them know I was wounded. I yanked the piece of shrapnel out of my abdomen and I quickly placed the bandage over the wound to stop the bleeding. I couldn't put any tape on it or anything because it wouldn't hold it in place well enough so I help the bandage in place with my right elbow while I gripped the stick. Five minutes had passed since I bandaged the wound and I began to feel uncomfortably cold. We were nearing the ocean and we were fifteen minute out from the carrier. My eyelids felt heavier the longer we flew and I wanted to go to sleep. I felt myself nodding off and I tried to keep myself awake by slapping myself across the face a couple of times, but it didn't do a whole lot of good. Stay awake! You have too for Danny's sake! I was determined to make it back to the Fort Grace in one piece and I strengthened my resolve. It lasted me for about ten minutes before I felt myself nodding off again. I took my hand off the stick and placed it over my bandage. I figured that I could close my eyes for a couple of second because we were flying level at ten thousand feet.

When I closed my eyes, the thought of Miranda suddenly came to my mind and what I said to her while we were at dinner. You dumbass! What the hell kind of compliment is 'your hair is pretty'? I could've said something better than that and I told myself that I was going to compliment her on something else the next time I saw her. Then the thought of her kissing me on the cheek came. I remembered that I told her that I'd have to buy her dinner first before she made that kind of advance on me. Mobius 1… When she kissed me, I felt this warm feeling sweep over my body. I had never felt a feeling like this in my life, and I didn't know what to think of it. The closest I could describe it as was when my mother hugged me when I was a child, but this feeling felt way different. Zorro… All of this thinking led me think about something bigger. Why does Miranda want me this close to her? There were a bunch of better guys that deserved someone as cute, smart, and skilled as her. Me, I was an asshole with a death wish. But then I remembered most of the girls my age were attracted to assholes. I was the biggest out of all of them, but why weren't those other girls barking up my tree? Wait, I just called her cute… I just thought about some traits that I found appealing in Miranda and she was the first girl who I ever though was actually cute. Castillo, wake the fuck up! The sound of Danny's voice brought me back to reality and the first thing I saw was the ocean filling up my field of view. Oh shit! I quickly grabbed the stick and pulled as hard as I could. My Phantom had entered into a dive as I nodded off and the others were shouting my name in order for me to wake up. I might've been able to recover sooner if my arm didn't hurt as much, but I still managed to recover from the dive. I was breathing heavily as I applied more throttle so that I could climb up to meet the others.

"Zorro, what the hell is your problem?" shouted Danny.

"Razor…" I panted heavily. "What are… what are you going to do when this war is over?"

"What?"

"What are you going to do after the war is over," I asked again as I tried to catch my breath.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just answer the damn question!"

"I don't know. I'll probably just stay in the military, assuming you don't kill me."

"Cool, what about you, Leo?"

"Zorro, are you feeling okay?" asked Thatch and he pulled up alongside me. When I looked at him, I could see that he knew I was in trouble. "CV-04, this is Halo 2, come in?"

"Halo 2, this is CV-04, go ahead," replied the Fort Grace CIC commander.

"We have a mayday situation. Mobius 1 is wounded and he's on the verge of losing consciousness, break. Have EMS and damage control on standby, how copy?"

"Solid copy, Halo 2," replied the commander

"Hang in there, Kid. Just hold on for three more minutes," said Thatch.

"Leo," I said. "You still haven't answered my question."

"I'm going to get back together with my band and tour Osea," he said.

"You have a band?"

"Yeah, we're a modern jazz quintet. We had a pretty good sound going until I volunteered for ISAF."

"That's awesome," I laughed weakly. "What do you play?"

"I play the tenor sax. I can make that bad boy sing like you wouldn't believe."

"You got nothing on me. I can play my alto as well as I can fly."

"Holly hell, you play?"

"Hell yeah, I'm in marching band and I joined the Jazz club last year."

Thatch didn't know that I was using our conversation as a way to keep myself awake while we continued to head for the carrier. By the way our conversation was going; I started to think that Thatch was growing to like me. It was like I was actually talking to Harkin before I pissed him off. By the time we reached the carrier, I had revealed more to Thatch than I did to my friends.

"Alright, Kid, we need to get you out of the air ASAP so you're going to land first, alright?" asked Thatch.

"I got you," I said and I began my landing checks. I had to do everything with my right arm and without the help of my instruments. I had to guess on my approach speed, my altitude, my angle of descent, while adjusted the throttle, stick, and flap lever with my one good arm.

"Hang in there mate, you're almost there," said Danny.

"Mobius 1, you're coming in too low. Pull up," said the AB (Air Boss). Throttle up, and stick back. "You're coming in too fast." Throttle back! "You're on the money." I gripped the stick in my hand and started to black out again. The carrier's flight deck was right in front of me and I tried to aim for the first arresting cable so that I had a better chance of catching the other three if I missed the first one. As soon as I knew my wheels were over the deck, I quickly reached over and cut the throttle. I was supposed to apply full throttle in the event that my tail hook didn't catch one of the cables, but the sudden stop of my Phantom was evidence enough that I made it. I popped the canopy as soon as I shut off the engines so that the medical crew could reach me sooner. They rushed over to try and help me out of the cockpit when I tried getting out of it myself. I couldn't stand for long when I felt my feet touch the flight deck and I felt myself collapse. I had lost too much blood on the way back and I honestly didn't think I'd make it. The medical staff was swarming all around me as I felt myself slipping away into darkness.

Location: Unknown

I couldn't remember anything that happened after I passed out on the flight deck. I thought I was dreaming as I heard people shouting while they looked over me. I could feel the pain in my body growing as I dreamt about all of it and I couldn't make out anything from my surrounding. Everything was black and I started to gain an awareness of my surroundings. I was lying down and I could feel the presence of someone else hovering over me. Wake up! I had to wake up because I felt the person getting closer to me. I thought they were going to smother me with a pillow or something like that. My hand began to twitch as the steady beeping of the life support machine slowly became clear. No, I can't be back here! Dammit, wake up! My eyes suddenly opened and my hands went towards the neck of the person who was hovering over me. My eyes hadn't adjusted to the light so I couldn't see whoever it was I was choking. The person was trying to break my grip, but I refused to let go. If they really wanted to counter me, all they had to do was target my wounds, but they didn't. My vision began to come back and I could see that the person was a girl. A couple more seconds passed by and then I realized that it was Miranda. My grip slowly loosened from around her neck and she began coughing to try and catch her breath.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" gasped Miranda.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"We're at the Naval Hospital on base. You weren't at school today so I thought I'd check on you. That and you needed a blood transfusion. As of now, I'm officially a part of you."

"Who told you I'd be here?"

"Your mom. Harkin told her that you passed out during work and that you were complaining about some stomach problems," said Miranda as she took a seat next to me.

I glared at Miranda and sighed in disappointment because my mother more than likely was told the truth about how I ended up here and my time as a combat pilot would surely end. I was so close to dying and the doctors somehow managed to help me pull through. You're going to have to try harder to kill me… shit! I leaned back in the hospital bed and cursed myself for being so stubborn. As much as I wanted to die, I couldn't just do it while lying down. The code I lived by didn't allow it and if I was going to die, I was going out swinging. I hate this. When I looked over my arms, I saw that my healing factor had already done its job. However, when I looked where I got hit in the abdomen, there was a large bandage over the wound and it hurt like hell.

"Why didn't this one heal?" I asked.

"They had to remove your appendix. The doctor said that you were developing appendicitis when you got… you know, whatever happened to you out there."

"God dammit," I muttered.

"What's wrong?"

"This is going to put me out of action for a while," I said.

"Are you serious?" exclaimed Miranda. "That's what you're worried about?"

"I got nothing better to be worried about. Apart from that, what are you doing here?"

"I said I came to check up on you."

"Why?"

"What's wrong with me coming to visit you in the hospital?"

"Nothing's wrong with it. What I want to know is why you wanted to check up on me," I said. Miranda couldn't stop herself from blushing and I could tell that she was worried about me. I could understand my friends being worried about me, but they wouldn't blush unless there was more to it. Miranda knew that I would call her on her bullshit and that it would be better if she didn't say anything. "I don't mind if you were worried about me. In fact, I was thinking about you on the way back."

Miranda was blushing harder than before and she turned away so that I wouldn't see. I could see that she was pressing her knees together again and her feet were rolling to the sides. She liked the fact that I thought about her, I assumed that she thought that I was thinking that I liked her or something along those lines. I let her have her moment as I looked on the nightstand next to my bed and saw my watch and cellphone sitting on it. My phone had over a dozen text messages from most of my friends telling me to get better and that they hoped I was okay. They can text me, but they can't come and see me? I carefully got out of my bed and put on my underwear and t-shirt. It hurt to stand up and I had to struggle to get on my feet.

"Where are you going?" asked Miranda.

"I'm going home," I said as I pulled the IV needle out of my arm and the life support patches off my chest.

"You can't leave yet. It's only been a couple of hours since you got out of surgery."

"I don't care; I'd rather be at home than in a hospital."

"Antonio, get back in that bed," warned Miranda as she cracked her knuckles.

"You seriously want to do this again?"

"You really must want me to kick your ass again, don't you?"

"I want you to try," I said as I glared at her and began to limp out of the room and into the hallway. I then made my way to the front desk while Miranda followed and we met one surprised nurse who couldn't believe that I was up already.

"What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting," she exclaimed.

"Look, I really don't want to be here because hospitals freak the hell out of me. Can you hurry up and give me a doctor's recommendation and some pain killers so that I can get out of here," I asked.

"Hold on," said the nurse and she picked up a phone to call someone. All I could hear was that she was told what to do once I woke up and I prepared myself for anything. If this was anything like the time I first arrived in the Project Pitbull facility, I was going to be in some serious trouble. People might actually die. The nurse hung up the phone and reached under her desk for something. I relaxed when I saw that it was my sling bag. "Here are your things."

I nervously grabbed my bag and opened it to see some of my clothes, along with my pistol, pocket knife, a small vial of prescription pain medication, and a folded piece of paper. Miranda waited by the front desk while I went to the go change in the restroom. Once that was done, Miranda walked with me to the front of the hospital and drove me to my car over near the airfield. Everyone was getting off work so the roads were pretty congested.

"So… you were thinking about me when you were wounded?" asked Miranda.

"Yeah," I said softly.

"Why were you thinking about me?"

"I thought that I could've said something better than telling you that you had pretty hair."

"My hair's not pretty to you?"

I could care less about it. "Did I say that?"

"No, but you're taking back the compliment you gave me."

"You wouldn't rather have me compliment you on something else?" I asked and Miranda began to blush again. She didn't answer me as we continued to drive the rest of the way towards the airfield in silence. Once we got there, Miranda got out of the car and helped me walk over to where mine was parked.

"Hold on a sec," said Miranda and I stopped short of getting into my car. "Why would you want to give me a better compliment than the one you gave me?"

I can't tell her that I actually thought she was cute! I wanted to say something smart and have her become so pissed off at me that she wouldn't want to see me ever again. However, after all the crap I said to her before, she always seemed to be coming back to me. I couldn't let her know that I had grown used to her being around me like this and I sure as hell couldn't let her know that I felt a little bit attached to her. No matter what I said, there was no getting rid of Miranda.

"I was about to die, I didn't want you to think that I was that big of an asshole when I was gone," I said and Miranda gave me a disgusted off look before she turned around and ran to her car.

I didn't watch as she peeled away and I turned my attention to all the things that were in my bag. The first thing I grabbed was my gun. I emptied the chamber before I set it in the glove box along with the rest of my attachments and I sent out a mass text to all of my friends to let them know that I was okay. Once that was out of the way, I opened the piece of paper that was in my gym bag. It turned out to be a written message from Thatch.

Hey Kid,

That was some really impressive flying you did on that last hop. I'm even surprised that you were able to hold yourself together and make it back to carrier. You're one tough SOB. Apart from that, Harkin gave you the rest of the month off so rest up.

-Thatch

I smiled a little knowing that I now had someone I could sort of depend on in the air. If I could get the rest of the squadron to work together, that would be even better. Getting Dahl and Frost on board was going to be a pain in the ass. I decided to worry about it later because my pain medication was wearing off. The drive home was relaxing and I took in the sights of everything along the way. To think that I might not have ever seen these things again… it does something to you. Being that close death really opened my eyes for some reason. The sunset was beautiful and I wished that I could stay and watch it, but it had to wait. I arrived home around 5:30pm and the first thing I was met with was my mother shouting at me, wonder why the hell I was out of the hospital. Amanda was just gawking at me because she thought I looked like shit with the way I looked. I smelled terrible too and the doctor said that I couldn't bathe for a week. Not only that, I was supposed to take this whole week off of school, but I wasn't going to wait. I didn't want to be inside either and I snuck out of my house to go sit on this hill that looked over the rest of the city. It was a short walk from my house because it was just down the street. When I got to the spot, I put on my sunglasses and laid back as I looked over Wesson. My sister and I came here all the time to gaze at the stars during the summer. We even saw a comet one year and I thought that was one of the coolest things ever. Watching the sunset was a bit different than what I was used to, but it was peaceful.

"I thought you were supposed to be in bed?"

I spoke too soon. I got up and turned my head to see Miranda walking a full grown German Shepard. It started to growl at me and I just glared at it, daring it to do something. "I needed to think," I replied.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked.

"As long as you keep Cujo in check," I said.

Miranda sat down next to me and the dog sat between us, like it was going to protect her. The thing was still growling at me and I looked at Miranda, hoping she would try to calm her dog down, but she just looked out towards the city. I felt somewhat glad that she was here with me, though I don't really know why. I guess I've grown used to her being around me since we first met three months ago.

"Hey, Miranda," I asked. "Do you…do you worry about me when I go off on mission?"

I couldn't stop myself from blushing because she was the only friend I had who knew what I was doing whenever I went away. I never thought that anyone else I knew would worry. Everyone only asked me what would happen to my family if I died and I honestly didn't think nothing would happen to them. But the thought of them worrying about me was different.

"I… well, you see… it's just that…," she stammered. "You're the sweetest guy I know and the thought of you coming not coming back is kind of scary."

I'm sweet? I shoot you down on a regular basis, say the most obnoxious things to you, and I tried to choke you to death a couple hours ago and you think I'm sweet? "I'm sweet to you?"

"Well, yeah. I mean you're an asshole more than anything, but you have your moments of being nice to me. But when you are nice to me, you make me feel like…" said Miranda and her voice trailed off.

"I make you feel like what?" I asked. Miranda didn't say anything and her dog started to growl at me even louder. I knew what she wanted to tell me wasn't easy and I was beginning to think the same thing. I wanted her to say what she had to say first before I did, but I knew she might not be able to with all the stammering that she did. She was hiding her face behind her dog and it just kept looking at me. If it didn't hurt to move, I would've tried to look at her face. Miranda's breathing became heavy and rapid as she leaned forward. She placed her hands between her legs and her hair hid her face. It looked like she was about to cry and that was the last thing I wanted. Screw it. "I think I'm starting to like you," I blurted out and her dog started to try and make me pet him. I patted the dog on its head and it seemed to lighten up. However, Miranda was looking at me in total shock. She didn't say anything for half a minute and I started to feel uncomfortable. Say something, dammit!

After about a minute, I got up and began to head back to my house. I had just turned my back on her when I heard her get up and rush up behind me. Miranda quickly wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her head on my back. I was caught so off guard that I didn't even notice the pain coming from my wound. I could feel Miranda breathing deeply as she pressed herself into my back. I guess I told her something that she wanted to hear.

"Did you really mean that?" she asked softly.

I wish I didn't feel this way. "I don't say things that I don't mean," I replied and Miranda walked in front of me to hug me again.

I didn't want to admit this to Miranda because now those assholes at Pitbull could exploit Miranda to keep me in check. I didn't want to put her in danger like this. Her life was now in my hands. Danny was already a handful to deal with, but now I had to be careful with what I did around Wesson. The Pitbull assholes weren't the only ones who would try to use this against me.

"Are we dating now?" she asked.

Twist my arm why don't you. "I…guess."

"Okay… but only on one condition," said Miranda and she looked up at me. "You have to promise me that you'll try to lighten up."

"Alright," I sighed. "But you have to promise me something as well."

"What?"

"You have to try and stick it to Ashley on whatever you two were talking about the other day," I said.

"Deal," she replied and we went back to sitting on the hill with her dog, Buster.

Okay, so now we're getting deeper into how Miranda affected Antonio's life. The next two chapters are going to be kind of like a way to show how he's slowly changing over the course of the story, but they won't have anything to do with the next mission. I basing them off of some events that I experienced when I was in high school so I hope you get a kick out of it. Apart from that, The Aces of Razgriz is coming along and I hope to have the next chapter out by the beginning of next month, but no promises. And again, you guys are awesome.