Chapter 12 - Dru
I felt like I was walking to the principal's office. Though I wouldn't really compare Dragon to a principal, being summoned to his office made me think of anything that I could have done wrong. My training was going well, but perhaps not as well as they hoped? Or maybe it was that Sabo and I still didn't really get along?
Koala was just finishing telling me that she would be heading out on another mission when a messenger gave me the summons, and escorted me there. Now I stood outside of Dragon's office, thinking up all the worst case scenarios instead of going in to find out what the truth was.
I finally decided anything had to be better than what I was imagining, so I knocked on the door. Once I heard "enter" I opened the door and slipped inside.
"Ah, Miss Dru. Thank you for coming. Though I did wonder if you were going to change your mind…" Dragon said as he smiled at me.
"Sorry sir," I replied. "I suppose I was worried that I was in trouble," I hid my eyes in embarrassment.
Dragon smiled. "Nothing like that, I assure you." He gestured for me to sit, and I did so, getting more comfortable now that I was no longer worried I had done something wrong. Dragon cleared his throat. "I'd like to send you with a group on a mission," he said, taking me by surprise.
"But…" I responded. "Do you think I'm ready for that?"
He smiled again, almost looking proud. "I think so, and this will be an opportunity for you to prove it, to yourself."
I sat there, shocked. He could read me pretty well. I didn't feel ready but I thought, if he thought so, then I was.
I said the only thing that I could think to say, "All right, who will I be with, and what is our objective?"
Needless to say, his smile grew bigger at that.
I disembarked from the ship behind Wayne, the man who was leading our mission. The objective was simple enough, we needed information and we had been sent to gather it. The unofficial ruler of this island, Mr. Phrat, was a man that controlled most of the land and businesses, and we were confident that he had the information we were after.
We were dressed as pirates, and tried to conduct ourselves in the same manner. I was the ship's engineer, mostly because the stereotype was that engineers were strange due to their lack of contact with others. That way, I wouldn't stand out too badly if I messed up, though I was still a nervous wreck.
After waiting for the scouts, we finally were on the move. There were some that were tasked with distraction and the rest of us were on infiltration. I tried to tell myself that nothing would go wrong, however I didn't really believe it. I stuck as close to Wayne as I could get.
We spent most of that day shopping for supplies, which was our cover. In actuality, we were finding out anything and everything about Mr. Phrat and his activities. Come dusk, we gathered back on our ship to share what we had learned.
"What?" Several of us asked, after hearing a horrible report.
"It's true," Anka, one of the scouts, said to Wayne. "They are little better than slaves, working all day to earn food and rent. The prices Mr. Phrat has set means that most people have no chance to better themselves."
"Very well," Wayne replied. "Moving on."
Anka and I seemed to be the only ones upset by this, but we followed his lead. This was my first mission after all, I wasn't exactly sure what all the protocols were.
I sat in silence as the reports continued, and finally as Wayne outlined his plan. I would not be accompanying the group, rather stationed as a sort of look out, outside Mr. Phrat's mansion. It seemed like a job I would be able to do, so I nodded along.
The next day, I took my time walking through town. I needed to be outside the mansion at a certain time, and didn't want to botch things by arriving too early or too late. I arrived at the appointed time, and gave the appearance of stopping to rest from my activities. There was a large tree off to the side of the road, so I went and sat under it, pretending to close my eyes.
After some time, I knew I needed to be moving on, but I hadn't seen any evidence that the plan was even happening, though I suppose that was a good sign. I stood slowly, and made a show of checking that I had all my belongings, getting ready to walk away.
Suddenly, I heard alarms blaring and voices yelling, and watched in shock as several of my people came running out the front of the mansion.
"Run for it!" one of them yelled to me, and I took off towards the ship. I kept glancing behind me, noticing that they were all faster than I was, and were rapidly catching up. We weaved back through the town, and headed for the docks. As we headed to the ship, I heard someone calling behind us.
"Please, take us with you!" I turned, and saw a man, barely older than me with a young boy in his arms. The boy was hanging on for dear life, and the man was pushing as hard as he could in order to catch us. We made it onto the ship, with the man close behind, and I could hear the shouts of the men sent to capture us.
"Hurry!" I called, as the ship started to pull away from the dock. The man was exhausted from his run however, and just sagged in defeat. Without another thought, I jumped back to the dock, took the boy and yelled, "Anka! Catch him!" Then grabbing him under his arms, I hefted him up and out into Anka waiting hands.
"Come on!" she called back, taking the boy over the railing and onto the deck.
I knew there was no way I could jump back, so I grabbed the man's arm. "What's your name?" I asked in a rush. I could see that Phrat's men were almost upon us.
"Just go!" he said, crying. "Please take my son far away from here!"
"I don't have time to babysit, you're coming too!" I said and pulled him with me as I jumped into the water.
I wasted no time swimming towards the boat, and soon was being pulled along by the young father. It seemed the water gave him a second wind, and we swam as fast as we could. Anka dropped the rope ladder, and I had the father go first, then climbed up after him, falling to the deck and panting, trying to catch my breath.
I opened my eyes, as I could feel someone standing above me, and saw Wayne glaring at me.
"What did you think you were doing?" he snapped. "Never make decisions like that for yourself! There is a chain of command for a reason."
"But-"
"No buts!" he cut me off. "If you are going to go on outside missions, you need to learn to look at the big picture. When it is right to go outside of orders, when you can make a difference!" he hissed at me.
I looked over at the father and son, hugging and crying all over Anka who looked uncomfortable but was smiling.
"It made a difference to them," I retorted, then stood and went to dry myself off.
This time, the summons to Dragon's office came as no shock at all. I knew that Wayne was upset with me, and that I would get a very bad review or whatever they did here. However, I knew that I had done nothing wrong, in fact, I was proud of myself. If Dragon was really upset with my actions, then I would gladly not go on missions anymore, and may even rethink why I had even joined them.
I approached the door and knocked, then entered after being invited to. I stopped short as I realized that Dragon wasn't alone. Both Wayne and Sabo were with him.
"Miss Dru, please join us," Dragon invited, and I walked over to the empty chair next to Wayne, facing Dragon who sat at his desk, with Sabo standing behind him.
"Thank you sir," I said as I sat down. I smiled at Dragon, as if I was pleased to be here, while inside I was dreading the way this could go.
"I've gotten the reports from your mission, and from your mission leader, but now I'd like to hear it from you," Dragon said to me with a slight smirk.
I may not be as stubborn as my sisters, but I was plenty stubborn, and if they were rethinking inviting me to join them, I'd make them work for it. "I don't know what insight I could give you sir, it is pretty straightforward."
I saw Sabo smirk as well, before controlling his features and asking, "How about motivation?"
"Motivation?" I echoed.
"Yes," he responded, his face stern, but his eyes were laughing. "We know what you did, but why did you do it?" he asked.
I thought for a moment. "I don't know that I had any underlying motivation." I answered, and saw both men in front of me raise an eyebrow in question. "There were horrible stories from all the townspeople of what life was like on that island," I continued. "And then someone was brave enough to try to get away, and he asked for help." I cleared my throat, "so I helped him."
"You had never met him before?" Dragon asked.
"Huh? No," I responded, confused. "I still don't even know his name."
"The man is Daichi, and his son is Eichi," Sabo told me. "They are very grateful for your help, and have asked to stay with us, and help others as you helped them."
My mouth formed an "o" as I looked at him in surprise. "They did?" I asked, not quite believing it.
"They did," Dragon confirmed. "Wayne, you must be very proud to have had such a successful mission, not only completing your objective, but bringing back a recruit as well." Wayne looked shocked, then embarrassed as he realized that his report was overruled.
"Of course sir, thank you sir," he said to Dragon.
"You are both dismissed," Dragon said to us with a twinkle of a smile in his eyes. As we stood and walked out, I stood even taller. It was nice to have my efforts validated! Wayne stopped me outside the door with an apology and a "good job". I shook his hand, and congratulated him as well for his great leadership, and we parted ways.
As I was walking back towards my room, I was stopped with a hand on my shoulder, and I spun with my hands up to block the intruder.
Sabo stood there laughing with his hands up in surrender. "Sorry Dru, but I was calling and you didn't hear me."
"Oh, sorry" I said, feeling my cheeks burn in embarrassment. "I guess I was in my own little world." I glanced back at him. "What did you need?" I asked.
Now it was his turn to look embarrassed. "I- I just wanted to apologize, for the way I've been treating you," he said. "Koala was right, though I would appreciate it if you didn't tell her I said that."
I giggled at that, "Yes, she would never let you forget it!" I said, and he groaned.
"So true! So it would be better if she doesn't know." He gave me a puppy eyed look, begging.
"Oh, all right. Your secret is safe with me," I said, giving in.
He became serious at my words and spoke again, "I've heard from Koala and Dragon that you've been through quite the ordeal before you joined with us. I'd be interested to hear about it, if you are willing…?" he asked.
I thought for a moment, realizing the olive branch he was handing me. "I think I would like that, though I must warn you, turn about is fair play," I teased.
"I think I would like that too," he said. "You hungry?"
"Famished," I answered, and we headed off to get some dinner, and to finally get to know each other.
