He'd just finished his food when he heard his guest stirring, and heard a muffled wince as he tried to move. Getting up he walked over to the bed and spoke to him. The bed-ridden pirate blinked fuzzily up at him. Then something seemed to click and he tried to speak again.
"You...Mila's...Ferrell..." but his voice wouldn't let him get a coherent sentence out, and he trailed off into a coughing fit the made his whole body hurt.
The man blinked, this guy new who he was. Full name, Marcus Ferrell, husband to the powerful and kind Mila. How did this guy know her?
He grabbed a glass of water, and helping the guy to sit up, got him to drink.
"There, NOW try saying that again, don't push yourself..."
"You're...i know you..who doesn't? Marcus Ferrell, i thought you were dead?"
"Eh, nope, just very well hidden, i had to protect Mila and the kids.." he sat forward, looking at Cortes "who are you, and how do you know Mila?"
Cortes had to drink a second lot of water before he was able to speak again "I..Im Captain Aran Cortes...saint nazaire...Mila is...with us..we rescued her from Oslo..the kids too...Puerto Angel.."
Marcus stared in surprise, What was he doing out here on his own?
Then he remembered something;
"Wait…you're Ames' kid aren't you? I remember him going on about you…"
Cortes blinked "yeah, he was my…adoptive father…" he sighed "rescued me off my home block after the sphere attacked…" he sighed "I have to...find someone, very important to me...i have to go.." he tried to get up but Marcus stopped him.
"You're in no state to go anywhere Captain. You had a pretty bad crash.." he looked at the wings as Cortes stretched them out. "Where..?"
"Oslo tried to use me as a virus carrier, but it went arse-up, and this happened..." he began coughing again, doubled up slightly. As he leaned forwards, something fell from his top pocket, slithered off the bed and onto the floor, where it clicked open.
Marcus picked it up, and looked at the photo inside. He looked at the figure holding captain Cortes and blinked. metal wings this time?
"Who..?" he said aloud. Cortes blinked, looked up, seen what Marcus was staring at, and went a deep shade of red.
"he..was a sphere creation...but..he came with us..."
"Is this who you're searching for? Your missing loved one?"
Cortes fidgeted "yes, of course it IS."
Marcus laughed "no need to get your kilt in a knot captain, I'm just curious as to how the sphere built something so..human.."
"Beats me.." Cortes said "but i have to get him back.." he began explaining the whole story...
The bird sat by him the whole time, it seemed to be interested in what Cortes was up to..
At last Marcus managed to persuade Cortes to get a nights sleep, saying he'd give him a hand finding sirus. In return, he wanted t come back to puerto angel and see his family. Of course Cortes agreed, he'd told Marcus how well the kids were doing, how Mahad would make a great leader, and Lena an excellent saijin like her mother.
Cortes curled up in a ball on the bed, wings tucked around his body. Marcus passed out on the old couch he'd retrieved from another block.
Cortes winced, in his sleep he seen a muddle of images, then he felt a familiar comforting presence, and a voice..
"I need you write this down..."
Marcus shifted and opened his eyes cautiously. He could hear a scratching noise. He looked over and stared. Cortes was standing, his back to him. He appeared to be carving something into the cave wall.
"Uh...if you need paper that badly.." he chuckled, and when Cortes didn't answer, he frowned. Was the guy OK? He got to his feet, walked over to him and tapped his shoulder. NO response. He waved a hand in front of his face, but Cortes ignored it, and finished the last of the numbers he'd been carving.
Marcus could think of only one option. He smacked the rebel on the back of the head. "Wakey wakey!" he yelled.
Cortes jumped, whipping round to face him "what? what's happened? Why're ye yelling?!"
Marcus pointed at the pen knife Cortes held, then at the wall "i should be asking YOU that, you're the one scribbling in your sleep..."
Cortes blinked, then looked at the wall. "Uh...i don't know what the hell just happened..."
"They look like co-ordinates to me...but for what..?" he looked at Cortes.
Cortes shrugged "sorry, subconscious didn't leave that info behind it..."
"Well its worth trying them out..." Marcus suggested, but Cortes sighed.
"How? my ships a write-off as you said..."
"No worries, I've been building one myself, its on the surface, hidden in a special place...we'll use that."
Cortes fell asleep again, but there were no more dreams, just soothing rest..
Sirus shook his head. What just happened. He'd been zoning out, something he didn't normally do. He'd been thinking about Aran, wanting so badly to let him know where he was...but what could he do locked up in a cell?
--Aran...please be alight...I'll get back to you somehow...--
The next morning Marcus woke a still-in-pain Cortes up and after packing a few supplies, set off for the ship. Cortes wounds were still fresh, and must have been causing considerable pain, but the captain never made a sound.
--He's an odd one that's for sure, but he reminds me of...me a little...-- Marcus thought as they headed for the craft. It took some minutes for Cortes to fit the wings in, but at last he managed. Marcus suggested he do the flying, given the state Cortes was in. Cortes didn't argue, he was feeling a little sick as it was...
The bird followed them, flying alongside the plane, before settling to wait on a nearby block. They tried to figure out the co-ordinates, but they were somewhat vague, and without a map it was like flying blind. Cortes began to feel dizzy again, light headed...
"Hey, stay awake!" Marcus shook his shoulder but Cortes had blacked out again. --Geez, he must be injured worse then i first thought, he doesn't look so good..--
"Keep going forwards.." the sleeping pirate muttered. Marcus stared at him, what was with this guy? But he shrugged, and steered the ship onwards.
"Your left...turn to the left..." was the next one. Followed by a few others.
The ships radar beeped, it had managed to sort out the co-ordinates exact directions from the little data it had.
Cortes groaned, and sat up straight, rubbing his eyes. "mnhh...where we?"
"I don't know...you were talking in your sleep again. Do you have an A-Z of sky land in that head of yours?"
"I have a headache..." Cortes sighed, "soon as i figure it out I'll let you know..."
Marcus shook his head "your the only person I've ever met that's made more sense asleep then awake..."
As they flew slowly onwards, keeping an eye out for spy devices or patrolling ships, Cortes took out the locket again. He looked down at the image. Was sirus somehow responsible? nah, no matter how humanoid he was, he couldn't possibly be bloody psychic? what was going on?
--I need to find you soon...please don't be hurt...--he felt a stab of worry, and clutched the locket tightly in his hand.
"I think this is it.." Marcus surmised at last. When Cortes didn't answer he looked over at him. He caught the expression on the others face. --I know how it feels captain, i felt the same when i had to leave Mila...with any luck..we'll both be re-united with those we long for..--
"sorry.." Cortes mumbled, tucking it back into his pocket. He squinted out the window at what looked like a giant floating derelict dump. Made up of huge hangars, it looked a state. But Cortes knew appearances could be deceiving, that was how they'd found sirus. In what they'd thought was an abandoned warehouse...
"How're we gonna get close...I'm pretty sure i can see proximity alarms here..and there..." he pointed them out. Cortes frowned for a moment. Then it hit him.
"We'll fly in!"
"..yeah, YOU fly, i don't bird-brain!"
Cortes shook his head at the jokey insult "providing you're not too heavy, i could support your weight...we should be able to avoid the sensors is we fly at the right height and land on the roof..."
Marcus personally thought it was lunacy, but they had no other options. He reluctantly allowed himself to be air-lifted out of the craft. He was surprised by Cortes' strength, he didn't seem bothered by the extra weight at all. They flew up pretty damn high, then swooped back in, landing expertly on the roof of the biggest hangar.
"Not bad, you're pretty good with those things.." he remarked, and Cortes smiled "i was trained by the best person available"
Inside the hangar, the pirates were putting the finishing touches on an energy compression canon. When fired, the compressed force would be capable of causing massive damage, yet their ship could carry it with ease.
"Soon, that winged freaks home will be kaboom, just like he is...!"
"Where's that Anubis guy?" one asked, Mac shrugged.
"Meh, off torturing his twin i think, he really 'ates him..."
"Heh, talk about dysfunctional.."
Sirus clutched his chest and bit back a stream of profanity. His other self smirked at his pain.
"Now..hows about you tell me the location of any other rebel blocks, better yet, how to deactivate Puerto Angels defences totally!"
"Go to hell!" was Sirus' response to that. Anubis laughed, shaking his head
"You really are a fool, well maybe its time we clipped your wings...literally.."
"What now?" Marcus asked.
After some examination they came across some air vents. Cortes suggested Marcus go in that way, while he tried another route. His wings were far too big to allow him to fit in the vent, so he'd need another way in..
He crept along the roof edge, leaning over he could see a bunch of pirates guarding a back entrance. He needed to shift them somehow. He noticed a camera mounted a few feet away from where he was. He picked up a chunk of masonry, took careful aim, and flung it at the device. It knocked it off its stand, severing the wires, and before it could hit the ground, he pulled a flash bomb from his pocket. Hed been surprised when Marcus had shown him the stash of weapons he'd acquired, but he'd taken an instant liking to the grenades.
The bomb hit the ground, and stunned the lot loitering there. He jumped down from the roof and ran past them while they were still reeling from it. He had to find sirus, and FAST!
Marcus meanwhile was beginning to dislike air vents, so damn cramped... He heard voices issuing from below him and scuttled a little closer to the vent in front of him to hear them.
"Is it done yet?"
"Nearly boss, its just got to charge up for the first time, and it'll be ready to go!"
"How soon can you fit it to the shop you fool!"
"Charge'll be complete in an hour captain, then it'll be ready to go."
From his hidey-hole Marcus cursed quietly. This wasn't good. He'd heard of such a weapon, but it had never been finished before, it had been deemed unstable, even by the sphere. If these guys got it running, there was no telling the devastation it'd cause.
--But how the hell do you go about dismantling something that dangerous?--
Whee part 3 Ive drawn some manga/comic fanart of scenes from the first fic, as soon as i can get the scanner to work ill add it.
Random Fact: The fish in my shoe is doing just swimmingly. hehe.