Chapter 25: Danger!
The hours ticked by, slowly. Even though it seemed strange, neither Mei nor D'Jok dared bond with their newborn doughter, just yet.
They put their doughters very life in the hands of the one man that they believed could save her. If he couldn't, then no one could.
Sonny looked at the little baby in her crib. So tiny, so innocent, she had no concept of the evil ythat might threaten her. And if he had it his way, she would never have to know.
For hours, he had been on a constant lookout, looking for signs of fluxpoisoning. So far, he had seen none. He didn't dare relax untill he knew for sure.
«You should play with her, let her get to know you» he suggested to the frightened parents.
He could tell they hessitated. He couldn't blame them. When the risk was that they could loose her so fast, Sonny understood that they tried to protect themselves from bonding, and causing the hurt to be even worse if worst was to come.
But, no matter what they did, it would turn out wrong in some way.
Sonny checked the time again. A little over two hours left, two hellishly long hours he feared.
D'Jok seemed utterly worried. It was if whatever it was, was weighing him down. Sonny studied his son in silence. Because he had the training he did, he could watch his son, without D'Jok realising it. D'Jok seemed miles away. Sure, he was talking to Mei, but still... there was something that made Sonny's sixth sense warn him of it.
Mei had fallen asleep, exhausted. D'Jok held her hand.
«D'Jok..» Sonny's voice was mild and calm.
D'Jok looked at his father.
«I don't dare take the risk Dad, if we loose her...»
Sonny shook his head.
«D'Jok, don't try to play me for a fool. I know you worry about her, but there is more»
D'Jok was amazed. He never understood how his father could take things like that straight out of the air.
«What tipped you off, Dad?» he asked.
There was no need trying to hide it.
«D'Jok.. Whenever you try to hide something from me, you got that look upon your face. You had that now, so, what is it?»
D'Jok sighed, and then, he told his father of his conversation with Calleigh. Sonny listened attentively to his son. When D'Jok was done, Sonny looked at him.
«There is something she didn't tell you Son, and for that reason alone, I'll meet her. But, it is not going to be a romantic date».
D'Jok nodded.
«I tried to stop her dad..»
Sonny laid a hand to his son's shoulder.
« I know son, it's not your fault».
D'Jok looked at him.
«I should have known she was up to something»
Sonny smiled.
«D'Jok, you know I live by the saying that I'll always pull through?»
«Sure Dad, but why are you telling me this now?»
Sonny smiled and patted his son's shoulder.
«Everything happens for a reason D'Jok, sometimes, we won't understand why, but good things comes from it. Don't feel bad about Calleigh cornering you son, you're not the first. You won't be the last».
Then, Sonny walked over to the baby's crib. Time was up, he needed her to open her eyes again. Gently, he took her tiny hand, and tickled it. The baby's eyes fluttered open. Sonny felt the relief rush through him. They were still crystalclear. No sign of flux poisoning. She would live.
Carefully, he lifted her from the crib, and placed her in D'Jok's arms.
«Dad, please..»
«It's ok Son, no more worries. She's safe. Now, you and Mei can start loving the little one. And name her».
Then, Mei's eyes fluttered open. She saw the two men and the baby in her husbands arms.
«D'Jok, is she..?»
D'Jok smiled.
«She's safe, Mei. Dad's antidote saved her».
Mei's eyes filled with tears.
«Thank you Sonny, whitout your help..»
Sonny sat down next to Mei.
«Now, you should name her» he suggested in a friendly tone.
Mei shook her head, and D'Jok handed the baby to Sonny.
«Dad, we want you to name her».
Sonny looked thoughtfull, then he looked down at the baby. She curled her little fingers round his finger, and her innocent blue eyes went straight to his heart. She represented something precious to all of them. Something that could never be taken from them.
«Hope!» he said.
«It's a beautiful name» said Mei with tears in her eyes.
D'Jok had a lump in his throat, too big to swallow.
He just nodded, agreeing with his wife.
«Little Hope Niobe Blackbones».
Sonny looked at his son. A tear could be seen in the pirate chief's eyes.
«D'Jok, Mei, that's the best possible way to honor her grandmother. I'm only sorry she couldn't live to see this herself».
Both Mei and D'Jok knew how the loss of D'Jok's mother had effected Sonny. It had gone decades since she passed away, and still, Sonny blamed himself for her death. It didn't matter how many times he was told differently, or shown differently. The guilt stuck in him.
The little girl curled her fingers round Sonny's finger again. Then, she made a sound no one had heard before. It was the sweetest babylaughter ever.
Sonny felt a lump form in his throat.
«Hello Hope Niobe. I'm Sonny, your grandfather. I'll always be here for you, to protect you, your father and your mother from danger, and when you grow older, I'll teach you what you need to know to survive».
Then, he passed her on to the mother.
«I'll be back tomorrow, take good care of her, get to know her».
Then, he left the young parents, and headed home to his appartement...
Duke Maddox felt haunted. Besides the guards posted there by Sonny, there was no one in the house. Or, was there? It was hard to tell. Duke Maddox had realised what Sonny had been going through every day, looking over his shoulder. He felt scared.
Someone didn't like his contact with the pirate chief. Sonny was on to their game, and they knew he would not back down.
They had to neutralize him. The problem was, Sonny was impossible to hit directly. Killing him wouldn't help technoid, it would make Sonny a hero, wich they certainly didn't want, and then, it would pave way for the pirates to roam about as they pleased. So, they attacked an other way. They attacked Duke maddox.
The first contact, he had brushed of as spam. It made no sense. But the messages kept coming, and instead of asking, they now demanded the duke take action. And Duke Maddox had no idea on how to deal with an invisible enemy. Sonny, on the other hand, knew. But he was busy these days. The pirates had informed him that Sonny's granddoughter had been born, just days ago. It was natural that Sonny wanted to be with her.
But Duke Maddox knew, he needed help. Out of fear for the unknown enemy, Duke Maddox had hessitated to ask for help. He didn't know who to trust.
It seemed he had to take a chance here, trust the pirates, or face an uncertain future.
Duke Maddox called in the guards.
«What do you want, Your Excellency?».
Sonny had demanded the Duke be treated well, and the proper respect for his title be shown.
«I need to speak to Sonny»...
Clamp had a monsterheadache. Several days with litterally no sleep, had made him realise he wasn't young anymore.
Dame Simbai looked at him.
«You look tired Clamp, you should get some rest».
Clamp shook his head.
«No can do. The information files Sonny gave me are huge, I need to sift out what's important, so they can stop the takeover».
Dame Simbai looked confused.
«Take over? What are you talking about Clamp?»
Clamp sighed.
«Technoid. Sonny suspects there is a hostile takeover in progress within the company. Duke Maddox is powerless to stop it, and his uncle is not the key either, they're just pawns».
«But, Sonny's busy these days Clamp. He's spending more time with the little one of D'Jok and Mei's, than anywhere else»
«It's his first chance to be around a newborn. Being as protective as Sonny is, you know he'll make sure the kid is ok».
Dame simbai nodded.
«I'll read through these files for him, and then, he'll make a decission as to what to do about things».
Clamp had no plans of telling anyone of the secret project he and Sonny was working on just yet. If they could finalize it, they would finally be able to set things straight. Make their big mistake right again.
Clamp remembered how his heart had beaten, when Sonny showed him what he was thinking.
«If we could do this..».
«We can Clamp. With your machines, I'll do the mixing and calculations, and then, we should be able to make up for our past».
Clamp had read what his friend had written. It seemed impossible, but if it could be done...
But Sonny had other things to worry about. Putting pressure on his uncle, had resorted in the pirates realising what a grand plan to rule supremely over the galaxy, was set in motion. They had started working fast after that. Sonny had made sure his men took care of things. Usually, he would have stepped in personally, but Corso had talked him out of it. Clamp realised that he had done it, to protect the pirates leader. It was well known, that without Sonny Blackbones, the pirates were done for.
Whoever was behind Technoid now, was dangerous. And the pirates were not about to put Sonny in danger if they didn't have to.
And Sonny knew he could trust Corso to handle matters. The Black Manta had taken off with a selected team just an hour earlier, this time, Sonny was not on board. He was elsewhere. Clamp knew little of what the pirates had found out, he only knew they took matters seriously, and had gone to make an arrest.
Since the trial against Technoid, things had been very different. The pirates were in charge of lawenforcement, wich was odd, since they usually were the hunted ones.
Even Sonny found the situation strange. Nowdays, he would babysit for D'Jok and Mei at any time. Clearly, the role as a grandfather, was one Sonny liked.
Clamp had met him with the little baby just days ago, Sonny seemed to have his own way to communicate with the baby. Clearly, a bond had been created between them. Mei had seen it too, and talked Sonny into doing a photoshoot with the baby. Sonny had agreed.
The photoseries had portrayed Sonny as who he really was, a devoted father, now grandfather, who cared for all the ones around him.
Clamp sighed. If only things would calm so that Sonny could finally enjoy the pleasures life brought for him and his men...
The sphere in space was huge. And clearly, concealed since no signals was traceable. Corso stared at the sphere. For once, he was glad Sonny was safe back on Akillian. But the birth of little hope, had made Sonny change his priorities a lot. He spent more time with his family now, and let Corso take care of operations. For Corso, this meant that their leader was safe, and could not be attacked for things he had not done. But then again, whoever was running Technoid was a real threat, and had to be dealth with. He contacted Sonny. The image appeared of Sonny, holding the baby to his shoulder.
«I see you're getting into your role as grandfather?» he teased his friend.
«D'Jok and Mei are exhausted. Taking care of a little baby is hard for them, they're not used to this being a 24/7 job, and both of them fell asleep. I came over to help them» Sonny said with a smile.
«Sure you did, you're just making excuses to spend time with the little one» Corso stated with a smile.
Sonny just shrugged. So what if he was cought right handed spending time with his granddoughter? He didn't care.
«anything new Corso?» he asked.
«We found a sphere, wich does not appear on radar».
«Hmm, sounds like somekind of cloaking device. Be carefull Corso, we don't know who we're dealing with».
Corso nodded, before he ended the transmission.
«I've got a bad feeling on what we're about to find, Bennet» he said.
Bennet didn't reply. Like the rest of them, he had a feeling there was something familiar about the villain they were dealing with. Over the years, the pirates had encountered many dangerous enemies. Enemies to themselves, to Technoid. They had often come into difficult situations, Sonny had almost been killed several times.
«I don't like this at all» said Corso, as they prepared to board the sphere...
At Akillian, Sonny had taken over for D'Jok and Mei. Mei had a photoshoot in the morning, now that she had her figure back, and D'Jok had football practice with the galactik kids. The kids did great, and had amazing development. Sonny met with Arendour, while he was waiting for Reigna to be done at football practice.
Soon, the conversation turned to the past, and what the pirates knew about things now. Arendour listened attentively as Sonny filled him in.
«You found out a lot, but Jack D'Arish is just a pawn, he's not the mastermind».
Sonny looked at him.
«Then, do you know who?»
Arendour nodded.
«Yes, but it's gonna sound unbelieavble to you Sonny. Especially as you seem to think this man is dead».
Sonny frowned at the sound of that. Who could that be?
Not Magnus Blade. Surely, they had not heard from him in a long while, but Sonny suspected this man to still be alive. Magnus was smart, he could definately cause trouble, but not within Technoid. The only one that could do that was...no, forget it, it wasn't possible. He had seen his ship explode, they nearly got killed themselves.
Arendour seemed to get what he was thinking.
«Don't worry about it Sonny. I'm sure all will go well from now on».
Sonny nodded, but a sneaking suspicion had been planted. He needed to think of something and fast, to ensure D'Jok and Mei's safety.
Sonny delivered Hope to D'Jok as soon as the practice was over.
«Is something wrong Dad?» D'Jok said, seeing the concerned expression on his fathers face.
«I don't know yet, D'Jok. Maybe. I'll be back later, I got to go speak to Clamp».
«Ok, Dad, I'll see you later».
Father and son said goodbye.
Sonny entered Clamp's lab in deep thoughts. Perhaps it was those thoughts that made him less aware of his surroundings.
Not untill he entered the inner lab, Sonny realised something was wrong. The lights didn't come on as usual. Sonny took one step forth, then he bumped into something soft. As a pirate, he always had a flashlight on him. He turned it on.
«Clamp!»
Clamp was lying on the floor, arms tied on his back, and his glasses broken. A wound to his head was red with blood. Sonny rose, he knew this was a trap.
«End of the line, Blackbones!» he heard behind him.
Before Sonny could turn around, he was struck with a stungun. Sonny fell unconcious to the ground, next to Clamp...
The sphere seemed empty. And still, it was not long ago that someone had been here. Corso scowered the files. What was going on here? Then, he found a file that yeilded too many answeres. Not only did Corso realise who the villain was. Clamp and Sonny were both in danger. And Sonny was alone back on Akillian.
«We have to return, now. I'll try to reach Sonny. And warn him. Corso tried to reach Sonny.
«Come on Sonny, pick up!». After five tries, Corso realised that time was running out. They had to get back, before Clamp and Sonny both would pay the ultimate prize for their invention, The Metaflux...
More Drama. Who is the real villain behind Technoid? And what will happen to Clamp and Sonny? Will Corso and the others make it in time to save them? Keep reading, and you will know.