I growled, pacing back and forth.
"Would you sit down?!" Ling cried in exasperation.
"Why?" I challenged.
"You've been pacing the entire train-ride. Sit down." May said, patting the seat next to her.
"No... I can't, I'm a caged tiger! I can't sit down, I can't relax!" I yelled, ready to rip my long hair out.
"Calm down... Find a happy place..." Al soothed, coming up next to me and putting a soft hand on my shoulder.
"That's hard when Ed's probably half-dead..." I sniffled, hugging him.
"That little bean? He can take care of himself, I'm sure he's fine!" Ling said stubbornly.
"That's just it! How can he take care of himself without a leg...? Shayle is a bully, he used to pick on me... If you're going to run or fight back, he'll take precautions against it! I know Shayle! It's bad that he's got his grubby mitts on Ed... And it's all my fault..." I sobbed as Al patted my shoulder and carefully straightened the feathers on my wings.
"Hey, now why do you say that?" he asked, holding me at arm's length to look me over.
"Think about it... If I'd gone with him, this wouldn't have happened! Ed has no Alchemy and he's useless without a leg! What's to keep Shayle from killing him?!"
"If you had gone with Ed, Shayle may have come for me."
"Yeah... But you have your Alchemy, and you don't become useless if a limb is taken away..." I pouted, pulling away. "And you'd have May and Ling and Lan Fan and everybody else, and Ed was in a strange country with no friends or allies, he didn't have anyone to back him up or defend him and-"
"Calm down, girl! You're rambling!" Ling interrupted.
"That all may be true, but at least we know that Ed won't easily give up. This Shayle guy may have some work ahead of him if he wants to break Edward. Remember how stubborn he is." Al smiled.
They were trying to make me feel better...
... But somehow I only felt worse. Sobbing, I ripped away from Al and ran away, into the next car.
I was only a few cars away from the engine-car when the explosion happened. I was thrown back, indicating that it was close and strong...
"Ohmigod, theengine!" I shrieked, putting the pedal to the metal. I was practically flying as I tried desperately to see the problem.
In the next car, I was about to go to the next...
But as I opened the door, a scene of utter destruction greeted me. Twisted metal, fire, smoke, and a few charred remains...
"No... Not fair..." I gasped, falling to my knees. A simple malfunction in the train couldn't cause this. Not for seven train-cars to be blown to smithereens! That striking me as odd suddenly, I stood up, looking around.
"Annabeth are you- Oh..."
Al and the others. But I was still looking around. Something was amiss here... But what was it...?
There was a mini-explosion, a loud hiss, and a larger explosion only meters away from me, throwing me violently back. I growled, my head whipping up for some weird reason...
"Gah, fuck." I swore, seeing the guy with a jet-pack. And a rocket-launcher. And what appeared to be a tranquilizer-gun hanging on his hip. "You wanna play rough, bastard?! Here I come!" I roared, taking off. I hear the others yelling after me, but I ignored them. The guy seemed startled... Not prepared for the flying girl, I guess.
I tackled him as he fired another rocket. This one went spinning off into the sky, exploding so that the pieces rained harmlessly down over nothing. I started beating on him with my fists as he reached for the tranq-gun, biting and kicking as well. As he grabbed it, I knocked it out of his hands... But I totally forgot about the friggin' rocket-launcher, which I was promptly smacked with.
"Annabeth!" May screamed as I began to tumble through the air. Shaking my head, I quickly righted myself...
... And almost caught a rocket in my gut. The others were fast enoguh to hurl themselves out of the way, but that made eight train-cars blown up total.
As the enemy tried to reload and fire at me again, I tackled him again, this time latching down on the soft flesh of where the shoulder meets the neck. He screamed, dropping the weapon. He began to thrash wildly, trying to shake me off...
And I wasn't biting all that hard! The wuss!
And as I began to thrash as well...
I must've hit the power-button on the jet-pack, because suddenly my wings were the only things holding us up. I shrieked, grabbing hold of the terrified man. He began babbling and pleading in what I assume was Drachman... I couldn't tell, just that I didn't understand him. "Oof...! Lay off the sugar-cookies, pal...!" I gasped, struggling to keep us aloft...
Well, at least keep our descent at a comfortable speed.
When I touched down, the man knelt and began kissing the ground. I actually felt like doing the same, but I had my dignity to maintain, and I had to seem more intimidating to him.
"Are you okay?" May gasped, running up.
"A bit traumatized from almost getting blown to pieces and the fact that about fifteen people just got burnt to crisps or blown to bitty-bits, but other than that, I'm good." I said. "So...! You! Talk!" I ordered, pointing at our former attacker.
He looked terrified, and began babbling again. I could feel the question-marks above my head. "Uhh... Someone here care to translate that...?" I squeaked, looking at the others.
"I don't speak Drachman!" "Don't understand anything he just said." "Sorry..."
But then Al got down and started talking. The guy babbled more... Al spoke more... Babble... Speak...
I think the rest of us were just watching in confusion as Al pumped the guy for info.
Sighing, Al stood up. "A young man with an eagle supplied him with the weapons and told him to find and eliminate Annabeth."
"Shayle." I said, rolling my eyes.
"And then he said there's also a small army of both Drachmans and pirates massing in an ocean to the south. There's a secret island where Shayle sets up base, but he doesn't know where it is."
"That sounds like Shayle's style alright... Can I kill the blighter now?" I asked.
"No." everyone said firmly.