Chapter Twenty-Three:
Sam arrived at the hospital. He was barely alive by the time they checked him in. The nurses wouldn't let Elvis go any further. They made him wait out in the waiting room. Elvis paced back and forth across the hospital tile. His nerves went through a list of possible scenarios. He couldn't keep his breathing even at all. He finally sat down in one of the chairs. He had known Sam for an awfully long time. The thought of having to say goodbye to him didn't sit well with him. He got out of the chair and got onto his knees. He bent over praying that Sam would be okay. That he was going to pull through his wounds. It took a while but one of the nurses came out to see Elvis. "excuse me." She whispered tapping his shoulder. Elvis immediately sat up. He stared up at the nurse. "are you a friend of Sam's?" she asked. Elvis didn't have enough energy to really give a valid reply. All he did was nod his head at her. "we have him on a blood transfusion now. The doctor performed surgery to close the stump on his arm up. He's resting currently." Elvis let out a sigh of relief. He got back on his feet once again. "he's down in the ICU if you want to see him." Elvis quickly rushed to the ICU. He knocked on Sam's door. "Come in." a voice called. Elvis pushed open the door slowly. Sam had been hooked up to numerous machines that were all keeping him alive. He couldn't breathe well which bugged him. Elvis took his hand again. Sam weakly squeezed his. Elvis broke out into tears. He hugged Sam. Sam flinched but returned the hug. He rested his head-on top of his. He pulled him mate tighter against him. "I thought I was going to lose you." Whimpered Elvis. Sam kissed his cheek. "you can't scare me like that Sam! If I lost, you then I don't know what I would have done." Sniffed Elvis. "you mean everything to me." Sam rubbed his back. "Elvis, I would have died protecting the ones I cared about. My death would not have been in vain. I know you guys would have carried out the mission." Sam felt tears fall onto his thin gown. Elvis looked up at him. "Sam I can't stand the thought of you being gone! You know that! Stop acting like you dying is okay! It's not okay! Your brother needs you! Your family needs you! PontyPandy needs you! And- "Elvis sobbed into Sam's neck again. Sam laid his head-on Elvis' "I get it Elvis. I know." He whispered. He laid there holding Elvis. "Elvis, I want you to keep Annu safe while I'm recovering. Our mission isn't over yet. You guys need to find a way to take out that glassing cruiser. It's what stands between us and finally saving our friends." Elvis didn't look at him. "Elvis." All he heard was the small sobs coming from Elvis. Sam sighed. He put his arms around Elvis.
Annu woke up finally. Her heart rate was still kind of high. Marcelo had a small campfire going. "Marcelo?" she asked weakly. Marcelo turned to look at her. "I'm glad to see your awake." He whispered. Annu whimpered. "Sam, where is he?" Marcelo got close to her. "he's in the hospital currently. He died about four times on the way there. Don't worry Elvis is with him." Annu sighed softly. "the artifact, do you guys still have it?" Marcelo nodded. He tapped his bag gently. Annu laid back down. Her wound had healed up rather quickly. She wasn't in as much pain anymore it was just the matter of resting. " we need to take out that glassing vessel." Whispered Annu. "we'll use the artifact that take it out. The core is it's weak point." Marcelo glanced down at his bag. "I can use it's power to put an end to this." Continued Annu. "However, you'll never see me again." She smiled weakly at Marcelo. "as you humans would say, I'll be going out with a bang." Marcelo saddened. "Annu, are you sure?" She gave a nod of her head. "I know that as a soldier you aren't scared when it comes to death. Being with you guys as made me less afraid of death." Marcelo took her hand. "what do we tell Sam?" She thought for a moment. "tell him that we'll cross paths again soon. Tell him his future is bright and that he shouldn't worry about me." Tears welled up in her eyes. "it's never goodbye it's see you soon." Marcelo hugged Annu gently. He wasn't the one for showing emotions seeing as the need to feel had been programmed out of him. He rubbed her back. "Annu, can I tell you something? I know you think that it's fate that tells you what to do but it's not. Each choice is made by you. You don't have to die for anything. It's not fair for a small girl like you to have to go through that." Annu sniffed gently. "I'm sure we can think of another way to take them out while keeping you alive." Finley smiled at them. "perhaps I can tie the artifact to my arrow and fire it up at the core." Marcelo smiled. "that's a good idea. We can borrow a helicopter and fly close to the carrier." Finley got to her feet. She helped Annu up gently.
Marcelo jumped the fence of an old airport. He helped the both of them climb up. He put Finley down on her feet gently. "I found this airfield when I was out on a patrol. There should be an aircraft we can use." Finley began searching each one of the hangars with Annu. She spotted a small plane sitting idle in one of the hangars. She called for Marcelo who came to take a look at it. "this could work. Alright here's the plan. I'm going to fly Annu close to where the core is. When we get into position, Annu you take the first shot. We only have one shot at this so make it count." Annu nodded. Her and Finley climbed aboard. Marcelo got into the cockpit. He hadn't flown a plane in a long time not since his jet crashed out in the woods. He started the plane up. He grabbed the radio and phoned headquarters. "Rookie, glad to hear from you man." Came Crimson's voice over the radio. "Crimson, I'm going to need some air support. Coordinates 5, 76, 89." Crimson wrote down his coordinates. "Rodger that we'll send help. Over and out." Marcelo put the radio back on the clip. He moved forward on the stick. The small thrusters growled to life moving the plane forward. He made sure that the brake was off. He pushed upwards on the throttle more. The plane began to move faster and faster down the runway. He pulled up on the stick making the plane take off from the strip. The landing gear was tucked in underneath it. Crimson ran over to Adian. "sir, we got a distress call from the Rookie. He's requested backup." Adian nodded. "go ahead and send the NightWolf squad out."
The runway at the base buzzed to life. A siren wailed to alert the squads to get moving. "okay boys we got a distress call coming from 5,76,89. Our boy, Rookie is in trouble you guys best get moving." NightOwl smiled underneath her helmet. She moved the stick on her jet forward. Her jet growled to life as it sped down the runway. She was the first one up in the air followed by the rest of her squad. "let's go Rookie hunting boys!" she called excitedly over the radio. Marcelo watched the radar in the cockpit. He noticed five large dots coming straight for him. "NightOwl to Rookie. Come in Rookie." Marcelo picked up his radio. "go ahead NightOwl." NightOwl smiled. "what's the plan?" she asked. "I'm wanting to blow shit up!" Marcelo laughed underneath his breath. "we'll need air support. We're heading for a glassing carrier and we have a way to take it out." NightOwl nodded. "sounds good. We'll keep the Ero busy while you guys move in. Over and out." Marcelo put his radio down. He looked in the back of the plane. He saw Finley tying the artifact to one of her arrows. "you know how to fire an arrow right Annu?" Annu nodded. "good." She handed Annu her bow. "just remember to try and stay as steady as possible. It's important to be very accurate." Finley ruffled her hair gently.
The jets flew into position around Marcelo. They had the small plane flanked on all sides. Marcelo only hoped that their plan of attack worked. The glass carrier was coming more and more into view. Marcelo turned around to face Finley again. "open the side door and get ready to take aim. We're nearly there." Finley nodded. She opened up the hatch. The wind blew everything around inside. Finley had a firm grip on Annu as she pulled her into her lap. They scooted close the edge. Marcelo flew as close as he could to the core. The hatch to the core wasn't opened. "shit." Muttered Marcelo under his breath. "we'll need that hatch to open if we are going to get this to work." He got on the radio again. "NightOwl, why don't you and the boys stir up a little trouble for us." He heard NightOwl shout excitedly over the radio. "thought you would never ask!" The jets moved away from the small plane. NightOwl took the first shot at the carrier. Alarms started going off inside of the carrier. The hangar deck to the carrier opened up and Eroian fighters flew out to attack the jets. Marcelo dodged the incoming lasers. "Marcelo, land inside of that carrier!" ordered Annu. Marcelo looked at her. "Trust me! I know what I'm doing!" He nodded. He moved the stick off to the side making the plane veer a sharp right. He threw down the landing gear landing the plane inside of the carrier.