Chapter Nine: Broken
Skipper was tense the entire ride to Sterling, and when Chug finally stopped he couldn't get out of the trailer fast enough. Chug decided to drive around the neighborhoods and look for Sky while Skipper and Sparky headed downtown. They asked around and called out for the girl, but nobody reported seeing her and they couldn't find any trace of the ten-year-old. Rosa called an hour into their search, telling them none of the orphans in her home could think of where Sky could be, but they did see her going into town instead of towards school the day she disappeared. She didn't even have her backpack.
"She's gotta be around her somewhere." Skipper murmured as he and Sparky drove down the street.
Sparky glanced up at Skipper. "Why are you so determined to find her, anyway?"
"She's ten! Who in their right mind would let a ten-year-old wander around by herself?" Skipper barked. "She'll get kidnapped or something!"
Sparky raised an eye frame. "Yes, but this seems like the concern of Rosa or those social workers. Certainly not for someone who just had a heated argument with her."
Skipper didn't answer. He kept his glare straight ahead as he continued on. Sparky kept right beside him. I know you, Skipper. You wouldn't be out here practically tearing the town apart looking if you didn't still care about her.
A couple hours passed, yet still nothing. Then, storm clouds began rolling in over the town of Sterling, and within minutes buckets of rain started falling. As thunder roared and lightning streaked across the sky, most of the residents of Sterling hurried to their homes. Sparky noticed with a hint of surprise that Skipper didn't even pause in his search. The forklift stayed under the Corsair's wing to keep dry, calling for Sky the entire time.
"Where could she be?" Sparky murmured as they wandered through the outskirts of the downtown area. Even when I met her three years ago, she didn't wander so far.
"Anywhere." Skipper admitted. "Where she knows she won't be found." Except that really could be anywhere, or maybe not even in town. Think, Skipper, think. If you were Sky, where would you be? Well, if I were her, I wouldn't have run away. Ugh, come on! How does a little girl disappear without any sort of clues as to her—
Skipper paused, forcing Sparky to stop as well. Sparky opened his mouth to ask what was wrong but Skipper shushed him sharply. The two sat in silence, listening to everything around them. There! Through the drumming of the rain and the crashing thunder, a soft voice sang out into the air. It was faint, but the warplane and forklift could still make it out.
Skipper and Sparky exchanged hopeful glances before quietly rolling forward. Looking around the corner and into an alleyway, they spied a tiny figure curled up in a ball. Rain soaked her, from her dark blue overalls and red shirt to her pitch-black hair and all the way down to the bone. She buried her face in her knees, not seeming to notice the rain still pouring down over her. Her voice came out soft as she sang, not noticing she had an audience.
"Sky?" Sparky piped up.
Sky gasped softly and her head shot up, staring at Skipper and Sparky in surprise. She ducked her head a bit, seeming embarrassed. For a moment, there was only the sound of the rain around them. "I sing because music helps me control my emotions. It gives me a way to express myself without anybody looking."
"You should sing in front of others more often." Sparky said with a kind smile. "You have an awfully pretty voice."
Sky hugged her knees. "Don't take me back."
Skipper gave a small glare, the look he usually had on his face. "Sparky, call Chug. We need to get to Propwash Junction ASAP." Both Sparky and Sky looked to Skipper in surprise. But Sparky hurriedly did what Skipper said as the Corsair came closer to Sky. He stared down at her. "You're soaking wet. At this rate, you'll get pneumonia before the evening is over. So you're gonna come with me and Sparky back to Propwash and we'll get you warm and dry. That's not a request; it's an order." He dipped one of his wings as low as he could get it. "Come on. Climb abroad."
Sky stared at Skipper for a long moment, only the sound of the rain hitting the pavement and themselves echoing in the air. Then, she slowly stood up and climbed up onto Skipper's wing. She sat in the bend of the wing, staring at the metal without really seeing it. Sparky announced Chug would meet them at a bus station nearby, and they drove off. Sky remained on Skipper's wing, tilting over a bit and leaning against the warplane. Skipper blinked in surprise, but folded his wing to better shield Sky from the rain.
Is it possible? Skipper wondered as they waited for Chug. Have I really grown to care for this little kid?
It was even storming in Propwash Junction when the four of them arrived. Chug hurried home while Sparky and Skipper took off for their hanger, Sky still carried on the Corsair's wing. Sparky handed Sky a large towel and instructed her to undress and dry off. He wrung out her sopping wet overalls, shirt, socks, and underwear before setting them next to a heat lamp to dry them. Sky dried off with one towel before cocooning herself in a second, huddled near the heat lamp to get warm. Sparky quickly dried Skipper off enough that he didn't drip with water anymore, and then the forklift realized with a start he never called Rosa.
"Yeah, we found her." Sparky told the Hispanic woman. "She was soaking wet, but we brought her back to Propwash to help her out."
"Oh muchas gracias, Sparky." Rosa said, sounding ultra-relieved. "I'll call the police and tell them she's been found."
"We'll bring her back—"
"No, no, don't worry about it." Rosa said hurriedly. "She needs you two right now. I'll come by tomorrow to pick her up, but I feel better knowing she's with people she trusted this evening. Besides, she will probably be happier with a break from the orphanage."
"Okay." Sparky agreed. "We'll take care of her." He bit his lip. "Um…about that social worker…"
"Angelic and Jessa left hours ago." Rosa explained. "Angelica will be back when Skylar turns eleven. I'm going to do what I can to try and prevent that. For now, just stay with Skylar and make sure she's okay."
"Can do." Sparky said, thanking Rosa before hanging up. He rolled out to the main hanger to see Sky getting dressed in her now-dry clothing, leaving her socks and shoes by the heat lamp to continue drying. "Rosa's gonna pick you up tomorrow."
Sky curled up again, staring at the ground. "Please don't send me back to the orphanage. I don't wanna leave you."
Silence.
Skipper and Sparky stared at Sky for a long time, but the girl never looked up for a moment. Finally, Skipper looked to his medic. "Sparky? Could I get a moment alone with Miss Skylar Amelia?"
Sparky glanced to Skipper, trying to read the Corsair's quite unreadable expression to guess what he was thinking. But something in Sparky's mind told him he could leave confidently. "Um, sure. I, uh, better go see if Chug needs help with…anything…" He exited the hanger, shutting the doors behind him and braving the storm as he hurried to the Fill N' Fly.
Skipper turned to Sky, pushing the scissor lift over. "Skylar Amelia, climb up on here. I want you to be at my eye level." Sky stared at Skipper in surprise, but she obeyed as she raised the scissor lift. She moved to the edge of the lift, where there wasn't a railing, and sat cross-legged on the metal platform. Skipper stared at the girl. "Skylar Amelia, I'm going to make a deal with you. I want you to look me in the eyes and promise you'll never run away from your problems again. Can you do that?"
Sky stared at Skipper for a moment before nodding. She locked her eyes with Skipper's. "I promise I will never run away from my problems ever again. For as long as I live and even in the afterlife."
Skipper smirked briefly before putting on a serious face. "Now, in return for that promise which I know you will keep, I will allow you to look into my memories."
Sky blinked in surprise. "Really?"
"There's a reason I didn't want you to look before, and it's because I didn't want you to see the very memory I'm going to show." Skipper explained. "I'm trusting you with this because I want you to understand why I am the way I am. This is a major risk I'm taking by showing you this memory, but you made me a promise and I'm willing to trust you."
Sky stared at Skipper as he rolled closer to the platform. She felt a bit of excitement, but then nervousness. What would she see when she used her powers to make this connection? Was it possible she was in over her head with this one? But she swallowed back her fears and moved to lie on her stomach, scooting herself out to rest her hands on Skipper's engine. She locked eyes with him, and he gave a small nod. Sky took in a breath, letting it out slowly and setting her head on the cool metal of the Corsair. She closed her eyes and focused on her powers, reaching out to connect her consciousness with Skipper's. When she opened her eyes, the blue-green irises turned snow-white. Skipper's eyes did the same, and Sky was pulled into his memories.
Clouds below and clear skies above told her she was flying high through the air. Specifically where, she had no idea. The sound of multiple engines meant she wasn't alone. But as much as Sky wanted to see who flew beside her, she knew it was impossible. By connecting to Skipper's memory, she would see everything through his eyes. His thoughts from the memory echoed in her head.
We're almost done. Skipper thought. Just a few more miles and we'll be able to report back to the Flysenhower.
"Looks like a quiet milk run, eh Skipper?" a man asked, patting Skipper's cockpit. Sky suddenly became aware of the human rider on the Corsair.
"Look, Skipper!" one of the planes beside him called. "Enemy ship, two o'clock low two miles!" Skipper's eyes moved to settle on a navy ship down on the ocean below, most of the rest of the ocean covered by clouds. "Easy pickings, what do you say?"
"Negative, Jigsaw 2." Skipper said. "Our orders are to recon and report back."
"Ah come, Skip. It'll be a turkey shoot!" the younger Corsair encouraged. The other planes and human riders voiced their agreements, even the human riding Skipper.
The eldest Corsair looked down towards the ship. It's only one ship….and these guys can handle that, right? "All right. Let's go in for a closer look. But keep your distance!" He and the rest of the Corsairs tilted their wings and dove down, disappearing into the clouds and readying their guns. Sky watched in amazement, wondering what could happen that would cause Skipper to hesitate in showing her this memory.
Suddenly, there was a barrage of gunfire, and the warplanes broke through the clouds to see not just the one ship, but many more. "Holy cow it's the whole enemy fleet!" one of the Corsairs gasped.
Pull up… Sky thought desperately, only to see the Corsairs still flying towards the ships. Why won't you pull up?
Suddenly, one of the Corsairs beside Skipper exploded from being hit. "Get out of there, Lucas!" Skipper shouted, only for his comrade to be shot down as well. It was nothing but gunfire and explosions and screaming. So much screaming. Sky heard a man scream, much closer than the others. Then, one of the ships managed to fire a shot that hit Skipper and he started spiraling out of the sky and into the ocean.
Sky broke the connection, scrambling backwards and her back hitting the railing of the scissor lift. She panted, her eyes wide with horror. Skipper stared back with a sad gaze, and Sky slowly managed to calm down. She stared at Skipper, something she seemed unable to stop doing all evening, and the Corsair sighed heavily.
"It was in a place called Glendal Canal." Skipper said. "My squadron were all rookies, even the psyche human riders that rode some of them. One of those psych-mans impressed me enough to be allowed to ride me during that patrol. It was supposed to be a milk run. When they spotted that ship, my first instinct was to turn back to the Flysenhower to report back. But they all sounded so confident. I had no reason to doubt their skills; I trained every single one of them. By the time we got below the clouds, it was too late to pull up." He closed his eyes, pain from his old wounds seeming to flare up. "My psych-man rider was shot clean off me. My entire squadron, plane and human alike and all under my command, were killed." He opened his eyes to look at Sky, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "I haven't flown since then, so guilt-ridden that my one mistake cost them their lives." He took in a ragged breath, trying to hold his tears at bay. "If I had only refused….if I had just ignored them….maybe they'd still be alive."
For some reason, Sky doubted that. If what she saw in the memory and heard from Skipper's story was true, she would guess a couple of the over-eager Corsairs might've gone so far as to disobey Skipper and dive down anyway. But she didn't say anything for a long time. Skipper was silent, tears streaming down the sides of his nose and to the floor.
"So…" Sky finally spoke. "…you're broken….."
Skipper sighed. "….yes….."
"Th-that's okay." Sky said in a soft voice. "I'm broken too."
Skipper stared at Sky, and he found tears trickled down the girl's cheeks. She moved to the controls of the scissor lift and slowly lowered herself down to Skipper's wing. She climbed onto the Corsair's wing and moved up to his cockpit, the warplane staring at her with a bit of confusion. But she simply pressed her hand against Skipper's side and ran it alongside him as she hugged him as best she could. The raven-haired girl pressed herself as close to Skipper as she could, her tears dripping down and landing on his metal hide with a soft plip. Skipper sighed heavily, slumping on his landing gear and letting his tears fall free.
By the time Sparky returned, he discovered Sky and Skipper fast asleep. Sky curled up on Skipper's wing, breathing evenly. Skipper looked peaceful, even with the tear stains on his nose. Sparky smiled softly, gently draping a blanket across the girl before turning the lights to the hanger off.
"Sleep well, guys." Sparky whispered, moving off to his section of the hanger to turn in.
The next morning, Rosa arrived to bring Sky back to the orphanage. She hugged the girl as tightly as she could, crying in relief and worriedly checking her over for injuries. She thanked Sparky and Skipper at least a thousand times, looking so relieved she might fall over.
Sky stared at the ground as she turned towards Skipper. "Thank you for taking care of me, Commander Riley. I'm sorry if I was a bother."
Skipper hid his surprise with a small frown, staring at Sky sorrowfully. "You're welcome. It wasn't any trouble at all." He watched as Sky climbed into Chug's trailer, the fuel truck having graciously offered to take her and Rosa back to Sterling. Sky never looked back once. Skipper was hardly aware of Rosa thanking him again before she joined Sky and Chug drove off.
Back at the orphanage, Rosa didn't scold Sky or punish her in any way. She was too happy to have her back safe and sound to be angry. Sky never responded much to Rosa, moving slowly as she journeyed up to her room and curled up on her bed. She grabbed the firefighting helmet Max gave her, cuddling it like a teddy bear as she stared off into space. Rosa left the girl alone, only checking on her twice to bring her lunch and dinner, neither of which she actually ate. She'd be lying if Rosa said she wasn't still worried about Sky, but for the first time she didn't have the slightest clue on what she could do to help.
That night, Sky cried herself to sleep.
A/N: I don't know if Skipper's official title was Commander, but I'm going with it because it seems to make sense. It also rolls of the tongue so nicely. Plus, no matter where I looked I couldn't find anything that had Skipper's official Navy rank canon to the movies.
Almost done with this arc! Hope you're all enjoying despite the severe angst moments.