AN: Hey… it's been over a year huh? Yeah, so college, it's… yeah. Well I've gotten back on a regular writing schedule, 26 is already ¼ done, so I think things will be back to normal.

Rating: T

Chapter 25

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Time: 22:00 UTC+1

Location: Munich, Germany

Marcel turned to Antauri and Gibson. "Hey um, where exactly in Central Siberia are we talking? It's not exactly a small place."

Gibson pressed... something, Marcel wasn't sure what exactly, but he supposed it wasn't surprising he had buttons on him, being part robot and all. After a moment of strange beeping sounds Gibson turned to him.

"The coordinates are approximately 63 N, 101 E," Gibson answered. "That said I don't have access to any sort of internet, so I can't tell you what airports are nearby."

"Airports?" Chiro asked.

Antauri sighed "Now Chiro we talked about this, we need go by plane in order to assure-"

"I know Antauri, I know," Chiro cut him off. "I was just wondering...um..."

"Shush!" Marcel waved him off as he attempted to resume his call. "Yeah, can you just hang on a second? I need to check something really quick. I'll call right back."

Marcel nodded as the muffled voice on the other side of the phone raised in volume.

"...Uh-huh...Yeah, look I know – I'm sorry, okay, but this is really important."

Marcel's eyes widened.

"...No, this isn't about a girl!" he spluttered. "There are plenty of those here, anyway!"

Marcel kneaded his forehead for a few seconds as the voice continued.

"...Okay, okay, look I'm hanging up right now. I'll be right back." Marcel quickly tapped the phone and let out an annoyed hum.

Antauri looked at him sympathetically. "Not exactly the most stable relationship between you and your...?"

"Dad. We..." he waved his hand about, as if hoping to grab the needed words from the air, "...have our problems."

"That's one way of putting it," Gibson snorted and rolled his eyes,.

Marcel glared at him.

Gibson waved his hands defensively. "I said nothing else!"

Marcel turned back to his phone.

Otto attempted to strike up some small talk. "So what's your-"

"Okay, there." Marcel declared as he completely ignored Otto, quickly pressing the phone back to his ear. "Hey, I'm back. Sorry about that."

He winced as the voice came back louder than last time. "Yes, I know what time it is! I wouldn't have called if it wasn't urgent..."No I'm not trying to do anything illegal!...At least I don't think so...Nothing – look the airport is KJA...No, I have not gotten involved in the Russian Mafia! I told you this is for a friend, he needs to make an emergency trip!"

Marcel was starting to look nervous, although he was able to hide it in his voice.

"To see his family, his um...mom, I think he said, got in a car accident and might not make it."

"Because he can't afford it! Look, what do you need me to do? Cause I will be willing to do just about whatever you ask if you – !"

Marcel fell silent.

"What." It wasn't a question, it was too flat to be a question. A desperate chuckle. "C'mon, isn't there something el-"

Marcel's face contorted, as if speaking was physically painful.

"I...fine okay, I... shit, I promise to go to the wedding if you arrange the flight. There, I said it."

There were a few moments of heavy silence before Marcel sighed deeply.

"Thanks, Dad."

Chiro rocked back and forth on his feet, not exactly sure what to say in the awkward situation. "So..."

Marcel lazily glowered at him. "No, I'm not telling you what that was about, it's private, you little shit."

Chiro was taken aback, and was ready with a rebuttal when Gibson sighed. "Just leave him alone Chiro, he doesn't mean it."

Chiro glanced between the two, wondering of what nature was the relationship that had developed between the team's brains and the college student. It didn't seem all that different from his and Sprx's, although there was definitely something different about it. It was then that Chiro realized something.

"Hey, wait, guys where's Sprx?" He looked around, not seeing him, or Nova for that matter.

Antauri looked like he was about to say something when the door in the back opened. Sprx proudly strutted into the room.

"Right here, kid," Sprx announced. "Me and Nova were having a private chat."

"There are a lot of jokes I could make about that, but I'll contain myself." Marcel quipped, peaking out of the shed before turning back."It's stopped raining by the way."

"Good," said Nova, "it'll be harder for Mandarin and his Formless to follow us without us noticing."

"Um, was it just me, or was that Formless kinda freaky?" Otto asked.

"Formless? You mean that guy on the bridge that attacked us?" Marcel asked, trying to remember the details of the event.

Antauri mused the possibilities. "Yes… it was quite strange; it seems Mandarin has it taking a more humanoid form. Perhaps so it can blend in more easily, it wouldn't be the first time such a thing has happened. That said, they normally loose their disguise when they attack."

"They were covered in blood…" Everyone looked over at Marcel who was staring into the middle distance, obviously trying to piece together the memories of the chaotic attack.

"What was covered in blood?" Nova asked, a grim look on her face.

Marcel looked at his hands, flexing his fingers. "Its claws, they were still red so it must have been pretty fresh." He shook his head and laughed. "That thing really was going to kill us."

Chiro's eyes widened as he realized what that meant. "Wait so…"

"Yes, it would appear that Mandarin is no longer just a threat to us," Antauri sighed. "I knew he had fallen, but still, to take an innocent life..."

Nova snorted angrily. "You're surprised? We shouldn't have bothered locking him away. We should've just gotten rid of him."

Marcel looked amongst the group for help. "Um… kinda lost here."

"I'll explain later Marcel," promised Gibson. "It's a very long story."

Antauri looked at Nova with disapprovingly. "If we had done that we would be no better than the forces we wish to combat."

"I'm just saying if we had known then what we know now. There's a difference Antauri." She looked at the ground forlornly. "Trust me, I was stupid enough to think that he might change back to normal too."

An uncomfortable silence hung over the shed before Marcel decided to break it. "Well, as wonderfully awkward it is to hear about your past with the guy who just tried to murder me, we should get going. The flight's tomorrow…" he glanced at his phone, "well today actually, and it's only on a biweekly basis, and I rather not wait that long."

"He's right, it will take some time to get us past airport security," Gibson agreed.

"Yeah, it always take us a couple of hours," said Chiro.

Marcel looked worried, "Sneak past…? You mean that thing that if you get caught doing, there are people who will shoot you?"

"Heh, relax kid, you don't have to do it, just us." Sprx replied.

Marcel smirked. "Yeah, seeing as my dad is on the board of Lufthansa, I think I can do a bit better than that for us."

Time: 16:30 UTC+12

Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Hyun Jae stared blankly ahead at the dull beige that was the back of another passenger's seat, "I can't believe it."

Ally squirmed in her seat, trying to get the buckle on correctly. "Well, at least they gave us a discount on the other tickets."

Hyun Jae clenched her fists in obvious anger and frustration. "Yes, they better have. I cannot believe it, of all the times for the Hawaiian Islands to start…" she searched for a correct word, "spitting out smoke it was now."

"I think you mean ash, and it could be worse," Ally shrugged, she was far too excited about the trip to care that a once in a lifetime event had just closed off most of the Pacific flight paths.

Hyun Jae on the other hand, was quite a bit more concerned, and looked back down at her ticket stub, "We have to go the opposite way, with stops in Sri Lanka, Brazil, and… I don't even know where 'Mozz… amba… iquu' is. Did I even say that right?"

Ally peeked at her own ticket. "I think it's pronounced 'Moe zaam beek'."

"Either way, this means our flight will take several days as opposed to one," Hyun Jae sighed.

Ally smiled as she adjusted her seat, "Well, it's a good thing I'm one of those people who can sleep anywhere. How about you?"

Hyun Jae's head sank down into her hands, "…I am going to be horrible on this flight."

"I think you mean miserable."

Hyun Jae glared icily at Ally, causing the preteen to sink back into her seat; not very far mind, airplane seats weren't giving enough to allow that.

Ally attempted to change the topic. "I just hope Jinmay was right about being able to handle the baggage hold. It's going to get wicked cold down there."

"I think she will be okay." Hyun Jae felt that if she made it from deep space and then crash landed in the ocean with nary a scratch, the robot girl could probably handle some sub-zero temperatures.

"I hope so," said Ally.

"Attention passengers; please…"

Time: 5:00 UTC+1

Location: Munich, Germany

"…fasten your seatbelts and put your trays in their upright and locked positions."

Marcel rolled his eyes. "So does she always do this, or only when there are other people to annoy?"

The copilot for the flight, a brunette in her mid-twenties by Marcel's judgment, smiled. "She always does, I think she believes it's for the cargo's benefit."

The pilot, a graying Russian woman whose wrinkles suggested more an abundance of stress and less so age, giggled. "Well, we are delivering some high value cargo, Sandra. Safety first, even more so now that we've got two handsome young men accompanying us." She glanced back. "Tell you what, how 'bout I take the college kid and you take the younger one. You two seem to be about the same age. Plus you did tell me you like the cute ones."

"Uhh…" Chiro, sitting next to Marcel for the flight, was glowing red and looking more than a little agog.

It wasn't surprising to Marcel, the kid looked to be 15 at best, and even he found the older woman's attention somewhat disturbing.

Sandra sighed as she took out a book. "Ignore her you two, she's harmless; plus if she actually did try anything I'm pretty sure she'd break something."

"I will have you know I've been taking my calcium!" she said.

Sandra began to flip through her book. "Anna? No one cares."

Anna grumbled a bit before glancing back again to her two passengers, "So what's the story with you again? Chico, right?"

"Uh, Chiro actually, my mom got in a car accident so I'm going back home, you know, family emergency." Chiro looked extremely uncomfortable, but he managed to pull off the lie well enough,

Anna nodded as she adjusted some controls. "Ah, well here's hoping she'll be all right. And what about you, Marcel? Why are you accompanying him? Are you two cousins or something?"

Marcel smirked ."So you can memorize my name but not his?"

"His father can't fire me."

Marcel shrugged. it was always a bit strange dealing with his father's employees. "Fair enough. And no, we're classmates actually; my dad may have mentioned something about that?"

Sandra turned her attention away from her book, looking at Chiro in bewilderment. "Classmates? What, are you one of those really advanced kids who skipped some grades?"

"Uh…w-well…" Chiro stammered.

Marcel covered. "Chiro's actually 18, he just looks really young, he always gets that question."

Anna chuckled. "18? You hear that Sandra, that means he's legal!"

Marcel and Sandra simultaneously facepalmed, while Chiro turned a brighter red while sputtering. Marcel had a feeling that this was going to be a very long flight.