31
Bastet was fighting to get out again. Sekhmet had, for perhaps the first time, pulled away from Marcus to retreat to a corner to wear her inner demon down. The cell phone rang, and Marcus picked it up, conversing briefly before hanging up. "You are no longer under house arrest... Sekhmet?" She looked up at him, her ears flat against her skull. She was upset. "Is something wrong, my precious?" He knelt next to her.
"It's her," she whispered.
"Do you wish for me to get Seraph?"
"Please...."
"Can you walk?"
She nodded, rising to her feet, her tail lasing in distress. He supported her, helping the cat girl to the Oracle's door, on which he knocked. Sekhmet's face was buried in his side, upset that she was losing this battle for herself. The door opened, the Oracle standing there. "What are you waiting for? Put her on the couch, Seraph will be home soon." Marcus blinked and did as he was told.
Sekhmet whimpered, holding tightly to Marcus' hand. He held her hand back, brushing her hair from her face.
"Don't leave me?"
"I will never."
She smiled at him and squeezed his hand. Seraph stepped into the room that moment. "Am I needed?" "Seraph," Sekhmet asked as she rose, feeling Bastet retreat, "how do you keep her under control?"
"Excuse me, Sekhmet. Keep who under control?"
"Bastet."
"If I do, then I do not know how. Forgive me."
Her face fell, then looked determined. "I will find out, then."
***
Pyre looked over a few gauges on the engineering level, taking note with a pen and looked unhappily at the boring hair she possessed in the real world. Dye was just so hard to come by...
A rather stiff Archangel looked in. "Do you need any help, Pyre-san?" he asked softly. "Huh? Nope. I'm fine." She replied distractedly.
"All right." He hesitated, looking at her for a moment.
"You need something?"
"I-iie..."
"You....spit it out Angel."
He actually looked embarrassed. "I, um... well, we are supposed to be landing in Zion soon. I was wondering if you would... like me to show you around?"
"I was actually going to set up my bunk with Poni."
Unaccountably, the Japanese man blushed. "Oh. Then... perhaps you might like to eat with me?"
"I have alot of work I have to do once I get there...they have to start teaching me about maintenance on the ship." She replied, still paying more attention to gauges than him.
"Oh," he said again, disappointed. "Then... I guess I will see you later."
"yeah, later."
He sighed, walking away. After a moment, he decided to seek out Poni to see if there was anything he needed to do. Poni was punching a makeshift punching bag in her room, blindfolded. "Epona-san?" he called from a safe distance.
"What?" She called back in her Scottish accent, still pounding away.
"Do you need me to do anything?"
"Not that I kin think of, why?"
He shrugged. "I wanted to see if something needed to be done."
"Nothin' that either Salvo or Pyre can't take care of."
An odd sigh from the teenager.
"Is somthin' the matter?"
"Hai."
"Pyre?"
"Hai." It was odd, admitting this to his captain.
"Tis not a good time to be makin' moves on the lass."
He nodded.
"She's tryin' to cope with what exactly's goin' on...plus, I dun think she's really your type, lad."
"What do you mean?"
"Pyre's every bit as volatile as her name would suggest."
Archangel looked confused.
"You see her short temper now, eh?"
"Yes."
"Imagine what would happen at certain times o' th' month. You sure you could handle that?"
"I would not know until I tried."
"What is it about Pyre ya like so much?"
His face lit up. "The way she looks, the way she is unafraid to speak her mind, the way she handles herself... she is everything I am not."
"And tell me, what kinda man do you see with someone like that?"
Now his face fell. "Someone... more like Red."
"Close, but not quite there. She needs someone who'll be oppositional to her. A girl like that's not happy unless she's conflictin' somethin'."
He sighed.
"Ya see what I mean, though."
"Yes," he said unhappily.
"Sorry to bear bad news, but it's better'n you gettin' shot down."
"I s'pose," he answered.
***
A few days after that conversation, Red tracked Poni down. "Oi, Poni?" he asked her. "What?" Poni called tiredly from her room. He did have the grace to pause for a moment. "Is this a bad time?"
"I"m awake. Now what?"
He shrugged, waiting outside her door. "I was jus' thinkin' 'bout Wings an' what 'e was like before 'e was unplugged. He's changed a lot, y'know." "Aye, that he has." Poni was gradually waking up.
"I was jus' wonderin' if I could see if I could bring th' old Wings back. Give 'im back 'is personality."
"What ya 'ave in mind?"
Red grinned. "For starters, takin' 'im to a bar Matrix-side an' gettin' 'im drunk."
"Alright. Then?"
"Gettin' videos of him singin', then, when 'e's nice an' hung over, takin' 'im on a field trip t' where 'e grew up."
"Sounds fair 'nough. Jus' be careful of that Agent." Poni replied. "I don' wanna lose Angel right after we rescued 'im."
"Sure. I c'n hold more alcohol than Wings, an' I'll be sure to stay under my limit. An' cell phone on at all times, and various guns upon my person, an' all that."
"Alright. I approve. Take care with 'm."
"I will," Red replied. "An' thanks. Will we 'ave to tell Zion at all? Or can we just circulate the videos?"
"That'll work." Poni began to make herself comfortable in her bed again. Red took the hint and left, making plans already. Salvo should be on shift now, he'd run the Plan by her too.
***
Red was startled at how well his plan had worked. Archangel, apparently, could not hold his alcohol at all. He grinned at the sight of his drunken friend up on the stage, singing I'm Too Sexy (For My Shirt) after having thrown said garment off. He had a small video camera going, catching every last bit of it to circulate on the internet and around Zion.
"Ah, life," he murmured, downing another beer.
They left soon after, too sober Angel up and make a visit to the boy's homeland.
***
Archangel looked around the small forest, wincing as the harsh sunlight seared his eyes. He had a massive headache, but Red apparently had some weird brew that cured the nausea portion of hangovers, so at least he wasn't throwing up.
"Where's the dojo?" he asked Red, not liking the fact that it wasn't there. Red looked surprised. "They didn't tell you? The Agents burned the place down when they couldn't find you. Nobody died, though, thank God."
Archangel thought about this and nodded. "Knowing Yukio, they've rebuilt the dojo elsewhere. He never did like this forest." Red didn't know what Angel was talking about, but he smiled and nodded. The young man never talked about his life Matrixside, but then, Red was one of the few who did. Mainly because he could brag about being the only person to have robbed the Merovingian and lived.
His young companion's head snapped up without warning. "Abunai!" he yelled, lunging for Red and pushing the other rebel out of the way as a gun fired, catching Archangel in the lower spine. He lost all feeling in his legs and fell to the ground, unable to move then. "Run!" he yelled at Red. The startled Irishman obeyed, his cell phone falling near Angel as he bolted.
"Mr. Tenou, how nice to see you again," said a cold voice. Archangel looked up at the Agent who had first given him wings, then a gunshot drilled into his chest and the Agent ran after Red, leaving Archangel to bleed to death.