More and more mysteries remain to be solved in our tragic tale. But can the crew survive long enough to see the outcome? Let's continue and see for ourselves.
Heart of Darkness...Bound
Aerrow started regaining consciousness, his head felt like it had been hit by a cruiser. He tried focusing his eyes, but he could barely make out any of his surroundings. There was barely light in his surroundings, what little there was came in from a slotted window on the far wall. He could roughly make two other shapes in the cell with him, one large and the other slim.
"Finn Junko?" He asked, hoping that they were in fact his friends.
"Guess sleeping beauty finally decided to wake up from his sweat dream." Finn said in a tone that had only about half the energy of his usual carefree tone.
As Aerrow's eyes began to adjust to the lack of light, he began to better make out Finn's features. Looking around him he could see that both he and Finn had regular restraints connecting their arms just above their heads. They were in a seated position across from each other on steel benches. Their feet were chained to the floor. Junko wasn't moving and had considerably more reinforced restraints on him. His arms were completely encased in long full-arm restraints, with similar restraints on his legs. A heavy measure of chain was secured around his midsection with the ends bolted into the wall.
"Could be worse." Finn began to add with a laughing tone. "You could have woken up to a horrible nightmare where we're all captured with no hope of escape...oh wait." Finn let a small laugh.
"Uhhh." Aerrow groaned, more from the pain in his head than Finn's lame joke. "Well I feel like a worn out punching bag. How are you two doing?"
"Well I'm better off than you two." Finn began, a worried tone carried in his voice. "At least they didn't knock me out cold. They pumped alot of sedative into Junko after bolting him in. The kept a weapon at your throat and mine while the did it, so he wouldn't resist."
"Well we're still alive, and that's something." Aerrow pointed out, trying to keep some hope alive. "Remember, Radaar, Piper and Stork are still out there. And every second we're alive means there is a chance we can escape."
"Yeah, guess your right." Finn sighed, no optimism in his voice. Still haven't come to terms with it yet, huh? Finn thought to himself as he leaned his hand back to look intently at the ceiling, the memory of The Condor, their home, crashing with their friends still on board. But, Radaar is still out there, somewhere. Just don't know what a little guy like him is gonna be able to do.
"How long have I been out anyway?" Aerrow asked, his head still pounding from the knot he could feel on the back of his head.
"Without a clock in here I can't be sure. But, I'd say maybe a couple hours." Finn said while still staring at the ceiling.
"Well I guess it's time to wake up Junko then." Aerrow said, a slight grin on his face.
"Ummm, perhaps you didn't hear the part about they pumped him with sedative. I don't think he's gonna wake up for awhile." Finn said, bringing his stare back to Aerrow.
"C'mon Finn." Aerrow said in a slightly mocking tone. "How long have we known Junko. He eats way more than any other wallop we've seen. His metabolism has to be way higher than most. And, I'm guessing they gave him enough to knock out a regular wallop, but I bet Junko's already past it. So he's just asleep right now. All we need to do is wake him."
"That's a hard task even on a regular day." Finn remarked. "He usually only wakes up when he smell breakfast or we're under attack. Otherwise it's like trying to move a mountain. And the Cyclonians aren't attacking since they have all nice and wrapped up." Finn pulled his restraints with a heavy grunt to add emphasis to this. "And unless you happen to have a scrumptious feast in your pocket, I think we're still out of luck."
Aerrow rolled his eyes a bit before looking back at his friend. "Just follow my lead." Aerrow turned his attention to the bound wallop. "Junkoooo." Aerrow began with a soft tone. "It's time to eat. We got all your favorite foods. Sauteed sausages with slug butter. Greasy jelly frogs with a horseradish dip."
Finn started rolling his eyes away from his friend, doubting that anything could wake Junko. But' then he began hearing Junko's stomach growl. Quickly looking over at his friend, he could see drool starting to form from Junko's mouth. "Yeah, yum yum." Finn said excitedly as he tried to think of the nasty stuff that Junko loved to eat. "There's also a huge side order of crispy fried goo-beetles."
Junko began smacking his lips in a semi-awake state as his eyes started to open. Aerrow could see Junko quickly regain his sense as he looked quickly around with his ears perked. But, just as quickly, his ears drooped back down. "Awwww, there's no food here." Junko stated in a slightly depressed tone.
"Sorry about that Junko." Aerrow said as apologetically as he could. "We'll get you all that stuff when we get out of here though, I promise."
"It's okay." Junko said still with a depressed tone, more this time having to do with his surroundings. "Nice to see we're all still alive." Junko said with a grin.
"So," Finn began a relaxed tone. "All that's left to do is to hurry up and wait for out chance to escape." He let a long sigh as he let himself lean back against the wall.
"Well, I guess this is a good time to talk about something that has been bugging me" Junko began, but was quickly interrupted by Finn.
"Dude, we are not gonna talk about our feelings." Finn said in a flat tone. "Just not gonna happen"
"No, I mean about something I saw back in the reactor room we were in before." Junko stated.
"What do you mean?" Aerrow asked, his interest perked.
"Well, it looks like they had been venting a lot of heat, but I caught a look at some of the equipment. And, something doesn't make sense." Junko sounded a little flustered as he tried to make sense of what he was about to say. "It doesn't look like they had been used in a while."
"What?" Aerrow asked, confused by what the wallop meant. "You mean the venting controls hadn't been used? Just means that the Cyclonians are a bit lazy about their upkeep."
"No, not the vents." Junko said still sounding a little confused. "They are still using the venting to channel out the exhaust. But, the exhaust isn't coming from the reactors. I mean, they're not using the reactors. And, judging from what I saw, they haven't used them awhile."
"Wait." Finn spoke up, confusion apparent on his voice. "How could they not be using their reactors. There's no power without them." Finn thought for a second. "You sure, man? I mean, that blast from Stryker's machine could have funked up the readings."
"Maybe." Junko thought for a second. "But ther analog recordings I saw shouldn't have been afected by that, it just doesn't make sense."
Aerrow had been silently listening and thinking about everything Junko had said. "So if the reactors haven't been on, what was powering this place?"
Suddenly, the door to the cell swung open. A dark figure, with a familiar profile, stood there. "The answer would haunt your nightmares." Dark Ace said with a cold tone.
"So, here to gloat?" Aerrow said with contempt.
"Mostly." Ace said with a quick laugh. "But I'm also here to let you have another roommate."
He quickly pulled a bound figure into the cell sitting them next to Aerrow. Then, just as quick as he arrived, Dark Ace shut the door and was gone.
It took Aerrow's eyes a moment to readjust to what little light there was. Looking at the figure he quickly made out the familiar outline of his friend. "PIPER!" He tried pulling at his restraints, wanting desperately to reach out and hug to make sure she was real. Finn and Junko pulled simiarly t their restraints with no result. "Your here! Your alive! Your.."
"Captured." She stated flatly.
"Yeah." Aerrow slightly stammered. "But it's good to know you made it off The Condor on time before it crashed."
"I didn't." Piper said, her voice still flat, her gaze never leaving the floor.
"How did you survive then?" Finn asked barely keeping himself tearing up from the flood of emotions filling him at that moment.
"Stork." Piper said, a hint of sadness in her voice. "One of his crazy little devices saved us both."
Junko hesitated before asking the obvious question. "Where is Stork?"
As soon as he finished asking the question, Piper lost control. She began openly weeping, unable to hold back the tears any longer.
Aerrow felt a weight drop in his chest. He didn't want to ask, but he needed to know. "Piper, what happened?"
Piper started regaining some of her composure long enough to recount what had happened up to the cargo ship taking off. Then she began to tell them about everything she saw up to when she was taken into the cel and placed next to them.
Aerrow felt a mixture of rage and fear that caused his whole body to shake. Dark Ace was right. Aerrow thought himself, It will haunt my nightmares.
Whew. Another chapter done. Next one coming out soon. And for those of you wondering, the next chapetr is called simply "What She Saw" Look forward to it. Later.