"Welcome to Gotham City Mid-Continent Airport" the voice of a woman P.A. announcer echoes through the crowded airport. Is currently noon with the light of the sun coming from the windows of the large building.
A young man in his twenty's steps in the middle of the lobby as he scans the people around, a black bag over his shoulder. He is wearing a black coat and shades over his eyes, hiding them, his long black hair combed in the middle, giving him a very mysterious look.
"Convenient, friendly, affordable, fly with us" the announcer continues.
He starts walking through the sea of people until reaching the electronic board showcasing the departures. He focuses on a specific one. Flight C615 with destiny to Jump City, delayed. The man frowns.
He walks away reaching the bar of the airport at the upper level. He pays in cash as the bartender hands him a can of coke. He steps outside of the bar, leaning into the railing as he continues scanning the people in the airport. He opens the can and takes a sip.
He focuses on a blonde woman entering the airport with a black suitcase. He follows her with his gaze. The woman gets on the escalators getting her to the upper level. After a few seconds, he shakes his head.
He enters the gift shop at the airport. He instantly focuses on a small superhero figure against the glass walls of the shop. He suddenly notices through the glass a woman carrying a brown suitcase. He focuses on her. She is beautiful with redhead hair, her skin with a particular tan, wearing a blue shirt and black pants. He looks at her suitcase which has the Jump City Steelers logo on it. He grins.
He looks around. No one seems to be paying any attention to him. In a quick move, he snatches the superhero figure away and hides it in his pocket. He leaves the gift shop.
"So, I am going make it onto the earlier flight?" The redhead woman asks the receptionist as she is making the check-in. After a few minutes of waiting in line, it is finally her turn. And luckily for her they had been able to accommodate her on an earlier flight, what a lucky day.
The receptionist nods and hands her her passport. He looks at her suitcase. "Are you going to check that, Miss Anders?" He asks.
"Oh, no, that shall not be necessary" Kory Anders answers as she shakes her head. "I am going to carry it along myself" she answers in a polite way. "It has valuables."
She walks up to the escalators, struggling a bit with her heavy suitcase, getting her to the upper level.
The man is still following her with his gaze.
Kory looks down at her case, lifts it up off the escalators and before she can take a couple of steps, she crashes onto a young man walking the opposite way, her suitcase falling to the ground.
"Oh, god, excuse me" the man says, an ashamed look on his eyes.
"No, I am sorry." Both reaching for the suitcase on the floor at the same time. "This bag is awfully heavy and…"
"I was looking at my phone and then… I hate when people do that." The young man helps her lift the suitcase as they both stand up. Kory for the first time getting a chance to have a look at him. God is he handsome with his black coat, blue eyes and his perfect black hair. She suddenly realizes she is staring as she lets out a nervous smile.
He smiles back as he starts going his way. "Sorry again." He gestures to his forehead, still smiling. "Also, you have some… smudge."
Kory smile back. She then turns to a glass wall by her side looking at her forehead. Is that a bruise? She turns back to him, but he is already gone.
A couple of minutes later, Kory is by the scanner. An officer checking inside her suitcase.
"What are those?" The officer asks as he hold two metallic tubes.
"Oh, those are two-barrel carburetors for a Pontiac Tripower" she answers. The officer nods, clearly not understanding what she meant. Kory turns around, noticing the same man with whom she had crashed earlier as he is passing through the scanner. He also notices her staring as he smiles at her. She quickly turns around, once more facing the officer, a little blush on her cheeks. The officer grabs two more tubes. "Those are exhaust tips for a 74 Z-28" she explains. "I restore old cars." The officer nods. He grabs another metallic object. "Hair dryer" she answers with a giggle. She turns back once more, but he is once more gone.
Kory is walking as she checks the different gates of the airport, seeming a bit lost, then looks down at her ticket, her gate should be right around here. She continues walking as she doesn't have to react and crushes once again against someone.
"Oh, I am so sorry" she manages to say, her suitcase once more falling to the floor. She looks up, is the same exact man with blue eyes. She laughs, embarrassed.
"This is, uhm… starting to be a habit" he says with a smile.
Kory laughs. "Yes, it is." The man kneels down and picks up her suitcase. "Sorry about the inconvenient" she apologizes once more.
He shakes it off as he stands up and hands her the suitcase. "Nah, don't sweat it" he grins. "It as was also my fault." He looks down at her ticket. "Jump?"
"Excuse me? Oh yes, I am going to Jump City."
He nods. "Gate 12." He smiles and gives her a two-finger salute before walking away, leaving Kory once more standing alone.
A couple of minutes later, Kory reaches gate 12, the young man behind in line. She presents her passport along her boarding pass to the woman flight attendant. "Greetings."
"Hi" the flight attendant salutes with a smile. She takes her boarding pass and her smile fades away. "Oh, I'm sorry, you are not on this flight" she informs looking at her.
Kory looks confused as she takes her boarding pass back. "Excuse me? I just checked around fifteen minutes ago." She smiles once again. "There must be some sort of mistake."
"Sorry, the computer shows we are booked" the flight attendant apologizes, motioning to it.
Kory takes a step forward, this whole thing already starting to get on her nerves. She looks down at her identification. "Friend… Sherry, tomorrow my big sister is getting married, she practically raised me…"
The young man behind Kory, hearing the whole conversation, right now feeling a bit sympathetic for Kory.
"I'm sorry, were completely sold out" Sherry interrupts her.
"Can you not help me?" Kory insists. "She is getting married, she is Komi, I am Kory." Hopefully she could make her feel sympathy for her.
The young man turns around, not many people seem to be doing the line to board the plane.
"That's very sweet, but the eleven-fifty will get you tomorrow morning in plenty of time." Sherry then turns to the young man, her smile suddenly returning. "Your boarding pass, sir?" She asks not leaving Kory the chance to argue.
The young man steps forward and hands her his boarding pass. He turns to Kory as he lets out a sad smile. "Sometimes things happen for a reason." Kory just looks at him.
Sherry hands him the boarding pass back. "Enjoy your flight, Mr. Grayson."
"Thank you." Grayson nods as he takes the boarding pass and continues. He sighs as he stops for a moment, feeling bad for this stranger whom he had just met. He pushes the thought to the side and enters the plane.
A man in a suit is at the back seat of a black limousine, currently at the phone, in front of him is a screen showing the camera footage of Grayson at the airport.
"I should have seen it coming, boss" he talks to the phone. "He went on tilt and came undone."
"Coming undone in our line of work it means to need a margarita, Xavier" a man in his fifty's answers from the other side. He is at a huge government office, wearing a black suit with his hair perfectly combed, to the side, a couple of agents are guarding him. "It doesn't mean capping a dozen people in a government lab and blowing it up. It doesn't mean stealing an object of critical importance. Does he have the Xenothium or not?"
"We believe so" Xavier answers.
The boss doesn't like that answer. "You believe so…" In that moment, Xavier notices something through the screen as he stops paying attention at what his boss is saying. "I don't care what you believe, Xavier, I need you to clean it up, get me the Xenothium."
"We'll have in hand by the moment he lands on Jump" Xavier answers confidently before he ends the call. In front of him, the screen is showing the interaction Grayson had with a redhead girl at the airport. "Find out who she is" he orders the agent by his side.
"Should we pick her up at the airport?"
Xavier shakes his head. "I have a better idea."
Kory is at a seat right outside of gate 12, checking her phone, fuming. How could they have done that? First, they change their flight to this one and now they tell her they are completely booked. Komi is going to kill her. She would make sure they hear about her. But not now, now she is currently checking different hotel options for the night, hopefully a cheap one. Or should she just sleep at the airport? Her back would certainly not appreciate that option.
"Excuse me, Miss Anders?"
Kory looks up. There in front of her is Sherry once again, a smile on her face and a boarding pass on her hands.
"We did find a seat for you."
Grayson is reading a magazine at his seat on the aisle of the plane. Not many people around, just the flight attendant walking through the aisle. He stops as he hears the ringtone of his phone. He takes it out.
"We'll be departing the Gotham City Mid-Continent Airport shortly" the pilot informs through the speaker. "Thank you for your patience."
Grayson checks his phone. Movement alert is shown in red letters. It then changes to a satellite image showing a location on the west coast near the Jump City. The satellite zooms in to a suburban house where an old man is busy repairing a car on the driveway. A bit of melancholy can be seen on Grayson's eyes. He puts the phone away and turns it off.
"I know it is your policy and it is your job…" he suddenly hears forcing him to look in front, where the same redhead he met a couple of minutes ago is making her way down the aisle. "… but it is not the correct thing to do to someone" she says to Sherry by her side. She sounds pissed but hides it under a smile.
"I know and I apologize" Sherry answers with a polite smile.
"Xavier, what did you do?" Grayson talks to himself in a low volume, clearly not liking this.
Kory looks around the plane. It looks empty, not more than ten passengers can be seen, and after they had told her they had the complete flight booked, yeah right. She checks her boarding pass, leading her right down the aisle next to Grayson. She smiles politely at him. He smiles back, a bit uncomfortable with the current situation.
"No wonder these airlines are going out of… business" she says to him as she lifts her suitcase up putting it up on the upper compartment.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we've been cleared to take off onto the runway" the pilot speaks once again.
Kory turns to Grayson with a smile. "There is no one on the plane."
A couple of minutes later, at sunset, the plane takes off from Gotham.
The plane shakes with turbulence as Sherry walks down the aisle, offering drinks to the few passengers on board.
Theres a ding as the speaker's voice echoes. "The captains turn on the seatbelt sign, please remain seated while the sign is still on."
Kory looks uncomfortable as the plane continues shaking. She looks to the side making eye contact with Grayson. "I am Kory, by the way."
He smiles. "I'm Richard Grayson."
Kory nods. "It is glorious to meet you, Richard."
"It is very nice to meet you." The place shakes again.
"Tequila on the rocks?" Sherry asks as she offers to Kory.
"Just in time, thank you" Kory answers with a smile, maybe this would ease her nervous. Sherry hands her the glass with tequila. She turns to Richard, but he shakes his head. Sherry continues down the aisle.
Richard looks at Kory. "So, your sisters getting married tomorrow?" He asks.
Kory turns to him. "Excuse me?" Her attention on her glass, as she wasn't expecting the conversation to continue.
"Your sister, she's getting married tomorrow, congratulations."
Kory beams a smile. "Oh, that is right, I thank you." She again turns to her glass, but quickly decides she wants to continue talking to his handsome stranger. "You know, Richard, I… I am a bad liar."
That catches Richard off guard. "I'm sorry, how's that?"
"Komi is getting married, but not until Saturday."
"You had me fooled" he answers with a smile.
"Although I do have a fitting tomorrow, so I do actually have to go home."
The plane shakes once again making Kory's smile disappear.
"I hope this is not one of those rough flights" she continues.
Richard looks around the plane. This is too much turbulence for a flight on such a clear day, he can see it through the windows. He looks behind making eye contact with a man a few rows in the back looking straight at him, not a friendly look on his eyes. He turns to Kory. "It just might be." He thinks, the best he can do is make her feel more comfortable. "You know, Gotham is a long way for a carburetor."
She smiles. "It is not just any carburetor; it is a triple deuce."
"Oh?"
"I am restoring a 66 GTO and Gotham has the best parts."
"Really?"
"My dad had a garage, and when I was a kid, he bought this chassis. He used to take us to yards and search for parts" she explains, a smile on her face as she thinks back to her memories with me. "He died a couple of years back, and now that Komi is getting married, I figured, why not finish it up? Give it to her as a weeding present. Also, as a present from our dad."
He nods and smiles. "That's nice, Kory."
She blushes. "Thank you."
"Yeah." He looks away.
Kory's gaze still on him as she thinks, the conversation really helping her endure the flight. "I used to think that…" she inhales deeply and chuckles. "… someday, when the last part was in, I would climb on that GTO and start it up, and just drive and drive and drive and just keep driving until I got to the tip of South America."
"Cape Horn."
She looks at him, a dreamy look on her eyes as she looks at his blue eyes. "Yes."
"Theres beautiful islands down there."
"There are?"
He nods as they both smile, their eyes lock on each other. Suddenly the plane shakes again interrupting the moment they had as Kory looks away.
"Yeah, "someday", that's a dangerous word" Richard continues as he shakes his head.
"Dangerous?"
He shrugs. "Its really code for "never"." He looks at her as he reflects on his past. "I think a lot about thinks I haven't done… Dive in the Grand Barrier Reef, ride the Orient Express, live on the Amalfi Coast…" Kory's attention on him, a smile on her face. "…with nothing but a bike and a backpack…" He smiles at her. "…kiss a stranger on the balcony of the Hotel du Cap." He laughs at that. She laughs softly at that, is he hitting on her?
"What is that?" She asks, completely marveled by him.
"South of France." She nods. "What about you? What's your list?"
She looks away as she thinks. "Well, yours sound pretty good." She laughs at her own joke.
Now the plane shakes vigorously for a few seconds, producing a loud rumble as the upper compartment suddenly opens and her suitcase falls over her. But before she can react, Richard is on his feet catching the suitcase with his hands.
She looks at him. "Wow…"
Richard smiles at her. With the corner of his eye, he notices as the man with whom he had made eye contact previously stands up looking at him.
"I thank you" Kory says catching his attention.
He grins. "No problem." He puts the suitcase again in the upper level. "I'll just put it up here."
Kory looks at him, especially his ass, god he also has a nice ass. She then looks down, noticing she has spilled her drink all over her. She groans, tired. "You know, I am going to go back and use the restroom" she says as she takes off her seatbelt.
The plane shakes again as she stumbles a bit, but he grabs her. "I'll help you."
"Thank you." She turns and aims for the restroom, Richard walking behind her, on the way keeping an eye on each of the passengers. "There is a lot of turbulence." She laughs. She reaches the restroom and opens the door. Before entering, she turns to Richard. "I will be out in a minute."
He nods with a smile. "Take your time." She returns the smile and closes the door. The plane shakes again.
Richard turns around, his smile instantly disappearing, in that moment one of the passengers jumps at him with a syringe. In a quick motion, Richard catches his wrist, punches him hard on the face, and pushes his hand with the syringe sticking it in his own neck as the passenger yells in pain.
Richard continues down the aisle to the next passenger, who throws a punch. Again, Richard catches him and pushes him to side hitting his head against the upper compartment. Never letting go of his arm, he pushes it down against the seat bending it, he also screams in pain as his bone cracks.
Inside the restroom is Kory looking at her reflection, not hearing anything of what's going on outside. "Kiss a stranger on the balcony of the Hotel du Cap? What kind of line is that?" She laughs.
Another passenger attacks Richard from behind throwing a kick. Richard catches it before it hits him and punches him down to one of the seats. With the corner of his eye, he notices as another passenger is set to attacking from behind. He quickly raises his leg hitting him the nose and sending him to the floor. He turns to the one on the seats and punches him once again. He grabs the upward armrest and pushes it down against his neck choking him with it as the passenger grunts trying to break free.
Kory's smile disappears as she reflects on the line. "Although, I must admit... it is a very good line."
Richard once again punches down the passenger, he is about to repeat the blow but is grabbed from behind by another passenger. In a quick move and using his strength, he breaks free and elbows him in the face. He looks up as another passenger is making his way down the aisle with a gun. Richard widens his eyes. The passenger shoots; Richard uses the other passenger as a shield as he absorbs the hit. The passenger shoots again, Richard ducks as Sherry, making her way down the aisle, receives the shot on the shoulder.
Richard gets up and walks up to her, catching her, a worried look on his eyes. "Madam, are you…?"
He is interrupted as Sherry headbutts him and grabs by the neck pushing him to the side, Richard turning red as he struggles against her grasp. He grabs her by the other hand and uses it to punch the passenger with a gun who was approaching them. Then, with his other hand, he pushes her head against the passenger, headbutting him and sending both to the floor.
"And did you see his hands?" Kory continues. "He just snatched the bag out of thin air" she says as she applies make-up over her face. "Lightning fast reflexes."
Another passenger throws a knife at Richard. In a quick movement, with fast reflexes, he grabs the pillow from one of the seats putting it in front of him at his crotch level and blocking the knife that gets stuck there. Richard looks up at the passenger and shakes his head. "Not cool."
He takes the knife off the pillow and throws it at the passenger. The passenger quickly moves to the side, the knife passing by and killing another passenger behind who was just standing up.
Kory accommodates her hair, really trying to look as beautiful as she can. "Okay." She raises her hand and exhales as she smells her own breath.
The passenger jumps at Richard with a knife. He raises the pillow just in time blocking the knife, pushes him to the side and punches him. He then takes out the seatbelt from one of the seats and stands up. In front of him, the passenger with the knife. Richard grins as he raises the seatbelt using it as nunchakus. The passenger laughs. Richard quickly throws it forward, hitting him in the nose with the metallic part and catching him off guard. And then repeats the move, hitting him again.
Kory then accommodates her breasts, trying to make them as noticeable as possible.
Richard continues moving the seatbelt as nunchakus. The passenger in front a little wary not knowing from where to attack him.
Kory takes out a perfume and applies it to her neck. "This shall help." She exhales trying to calm herself.
Richard accidently gets the seatbelt stuck in between seats when he was about to attack the passenger. He tries to take it out, but he can't. His opponent takes advantage and swings his knife at him. Richard dodges moving backwards. The passenger then lifts his leg, hitting him in the chest sending Richard back, who grunts in pain. The passenger swings again, Richard ducks and finds an opening to deliver a punch to the face. He then grabs him by the neck and slams him against the door of the restroom.
"It is the occupied" a clueless Kory says politely from inside the restroom.
Richard then pushes the head of the passenger down and knees him in the face, knocking him up.
"Enough."
Richard turns to the aisle, finding the pilot pointing at him with a gun. The plane shakes again.
"It's over, Grayson."
Richard walks to him, not feeling intimidated, but a bit out-of-breath. "I agree, enough." The pilot backs away.
"Where's the Xenothium?" The pilot asks.
The plane shakes again, Richard takes advantage and pushes the hand holding the gun to side against the upper compartments and punches him in the face. The pilot tries to counterattack with a punch of his own, but Richard blocks him and delivers another punch.
The pilot lets out a battle cry as he charges at him delivering an avalanche of punches. Richard backs away blocking some of the punches, but others landing on his stomach, as they travel to the front of the plane. Richard finds an opening, blocks one punch and pushes the pilot to the side against the window. Then grabs him and pushes him up hitting the upper compartment, the oxygen masks falling over them. Richard grabs the oxygen mask and wraps it around his neck trying to choke him as the pilot struggles.
"Why is the girl on the plane?" He asks dead serious. "Tell me, why did Xavier put her on the plane?"
The pilot suddenly receives a bullet to the head as he falls to the side. Richard quickly turns around. The other pilot is holding his gun at him.
"Don't move, Grayson."
He fires multiple times, missing. Richard rolls to the floor noticing the gun of the dead pilot.
The pilot is about to shoot him, but Richard beats him to it, killing him. Silence. Everyone is dead or unconscious.
Richard then thinks, who is piloting the plane? He peaks inside the cabin, no one inside as the plane is descending. He widens his eyes.
"So, what are you going to do?" Kory asks to herself. She accommodates her hair again. "You are going to go and let this opportunity pass you by? No, of course you are not. You are going to walk through that door, and you are going to get him. It is not your first rodeo, Kory."
She walks outside the restroom into the aisle. Everything is quiet, the few passengers in the plane seem asleep in their seats. She notices Richard in the middle seated over the armrest. He seems nervous while holding two glasses of tequila in his hands.
She takes a deep breath and walks up to him. He smiles at her, a little nervous.
"I decided to join you" he says motioning to the glasses.
She doesn't answer as he walks up to him, places her arms around his neck and kisses him. He doesn't close his eyes, although it feels nice, maybe the situation isn't ideal. But then again, it feels nice, he kisses her back. Without breaking the kiss, he peaks inside the cabin. The door is wide open showing there's no one piloting the plane
Kory notices he has stopped kissing her back and breaks the kiss. Maybe after all he wasn't hitting on her. "I apologize, I… sorry."
"No, no, don't, it was great, I…" he whispers, both now being a little awkward.
"It was the tequila, I…"
Richard stops her raising his hand. "No, listen, there's something I must tell you."
Kory freezes. "Oh, X'Hal, you are married" she says freaking out a little. "I apologize."
"Oh no, it's not that."
Kory stops. "Alright, I am all ears, what is it?" Maybe he is gay. She suddenly looks to the side noticing the door to the cabin of the plane wide open, no one inside. "Are we landing?" She can swear she wasn't that long in the restroom.
"No, not yet."
"No?" She asks, starting to feel a bit scared.
"No, listen, there's no need to panic."
She grabs the glass of tequila and takes a sip, trying to calm her nerves once again.
"I have… I have contained the situation."
"Situation?"
"Yeah, we've…" he says, trying to find the best way to say it. "… lost the pilots." He just says sounding very calm.
She looks back to the cabin, still calm. "Where did they go?"
"I mean, they are dead." He laughs awkwardly.
"The pilots are dead?"
"Shot, its…" He takes a sip of his glass.
"Shot?" She smiles at him and leans forward giving up to his game. "By whom?"
"Well… uhm… me" he admits. Silence. "Actually, the second pilot shot the first one accidently and I shot the second one. It was just…" He exhales. "…One of those things." He shrugs with a smile as if it were the most normal thing to ever happen.
Kory nods as if she is understanding anything of what he is saying. Then out of nowhere, she bursts out laughing. He must be joking, right? How can he have killed the pilots? She stops as she notices he isn't laughing. No, it can't be truth. She burst out laughing again for even thinking it, maybe the tequila is affecting her a bit.
"You are so funny, Richard" she manages to say through the laugh. "This is great."
Richard matches her laugh. "Really, I'm relieved you are taking it so well." She continues laughing as she friendly punches him in the chest.
He lets out one more laugh as he stands up and leaves for the cabin. Kory watches him go while continuing to laugh. "Where are you going?"
He stops and motions to the cabin with a smile. "I'm just gonna check some things and think about landing." He continues. "Would you mind putting on the seatbelt for me?" Kory just laughs, her face staring to turn red with all the laughter. "That'd be great."
Kory watches him enter the cabin and close the door behind, her laughter gradually diminishing until it stops, although a light smile remains on her face. She seats and puts the seatbelt on. She then looks around the plane. "This is weird." She smiles again.
In that moment, the plane shakes violently again as the bell dings. Her smile instantly disappears. Then the upper compartments swing open as the oxygen masks fall from above and the bodies off the passenger fall on the aisle with the movement of the plane. Kory screams in panic as she looks around. She turns to the cabin and screams again.
Panickily, she opens the door of the cabin and closes it behind her.
"Mayday, Mayday…" she hears Richard speaking to the radio. "This is US Middle Air 77."
"What is happening?!" He turns to her. "Everyone is dead right there" she says referring to the passengers.
"Oh, come on, sit down." He calmly motions to the seat next to him. He turns back to the radio. "Mayday, mayday, mayday."
Kory is too scared to move as the plane continues descending, her hands taking hold of the walls. "X'Hal, are we going down?!"
"No, no Kory, its just a rapid descend, please sit down" he calmly answers without looking at her. The plane still trembling.
She obliges as she launches over the seat next to him. "Are you a pilot?!" A better question comes to her mind. "Who are you?"
"Shoulder straps" he motions to her seatbelt. An alarm starts beeping from the control panel. He doesn't mind it as he helps her with the seatbelt. "Put those over there… and you want to click it right there, that's it."
She finally puts it on. "Okay, okay… I got it."
He smiles as he turns back to the controls. "We are going down." He pushes the leveler forward.
"Why… why can we just not land on an airport?!" Yeah, that sounds better and wherever he is trying to land.
He doesn't look at her, his focus forward. "No, no, that wouldn't be a good idea. They'll be waiting for us."
"What? What do you mean waiting for us? Who?!"
"I think the less you know the best." He turns to her with a smile. "Don't you think?" Then he presses a couple of buttons, and the engine starts roaring louder.
"What?"
They continue descending until a large cornfield can be seen under the clouds.
"I think we are going to land right here."
Kory leans to the side taking hold of his seat.
Down at the route, is a truck driving, oblivious to the giant plane on the air behind it trying to land.
"That is a truck, that is a truck!" Kory yells.
"Yep, I see it." He touches another button as the wheels roll out from the plane.
The plane descends until the wheels come in contact with the asphalt, Richard pushing the leveler back trying to stop without hitting the truck in front of them.
"Oh X'Hal! Oh X'Hal!"
"Here I am!" The truck driver sings, still oblivious of the plane trying to slow down behind him. "Rock you like a hurricane!"
The plane is about to hit the truck, when suddenly the truck takes a turn with the route, the plane continuing into the cornfield.
"The curve, the curve!" Kory warns hitting him in the shoulder.
"Yeah, I see it."
But there's nothing Richard can do as the plane continues through the cornfield. The wheels can't handle the change of terrain as they break down. The plane taking a jump with it as it continues, now sliding through the cornfield, the whole cabin shaking violently. Kory gasps in panic as a few sobs come out of her. The plane still sliding as thousands of corns go flying against the glass of the cabin. Until it finally comes to a halt.
Kory lets out a whimper, now being able to breathe. Richard looks at her and smiles. "Happy landing."
A couple of minutes later, Kory and Richard are walking through the cornfield, their respective suitcase and bag in hand.
"This is good, this is good" Richard says, maybe to Kory, or maybe to himself.
"What is good?" She asks tiredly.
He stops and takes a small glass bottle from his bag and hands it to her. "Take a sip, take the edge off and drink."
Without thinking, Kory takes and drinks it completely until its empty.
Richard then takes his shirt off revealing his naked chest. God, he is jacked, Kory thinks. She then notices blood coming from his abdomen. "Are you shot?"
"Yeah" he laughs looking at it. "How about that? Don't worry, it's just a scrape." It is not, the wound seeming deeper. He looks at her and smiles. "That's good news." He throws his shirt away. He takes out a bandage and starts wrapping it around his torso. "Look Kory, we have to… discuss what's going to happen next."
"You need to go to the hospital, prison maybe?"
"Some people are going to come looking for you now… bad people."
Kory clutches her head. "I am feeling a little weird…" she says feeling a little dizzy.
"Oh yeah, that'll pass once you fall asleep, which should be in a couple of minutes."
"What?"
Richard grabs another shirt and puts it on. "Kory, I need you to listen."
"Did you drug me?"
He raises his hands trying to calm her. "Yes, I did."
"You drugged me!"
"Yeah, its for your own good. Now look, these bad people who are going to come and see you, they are going to ask you about me. Okay? And I need you to tell them you don't know me."
She nods, her head hurting as she collapses on the ground, Richard catching her and placing her neatly on the ground. "Kory, Kory."
"Yes, I hear."
"You need to tell them you don't remember anything, and you need to avoid getting in any vehicle with them at all costs."
"Wait, who is them?"
Richard thinks about how he can say it to her. "Well, they are serious people, Kory. They'll probably identify themselves as federal agents, and they D.I.P. you."
"Dip me? For what?"
"Dis-information protocol. They'll tell you a story about me, how I'm mentally unstable, paranoid..."
Kory chuckles awkwardly, is he not all that?
"…how I'm violent and dangerous and it'll sound all very convincing."
Kory laughs. "I'm already convinced."
Richard continues. "There are a few common D.I.P. keywords you need to listen for, reassuring words like "stabilize", "secure", "safe". If they say this words, particularly with repetition…"
Kory nods. "Okay…"
"…it means they are going to kill you" he says dead serious looking at her straight on the eyes.
Kory's eyes widen. "Oh X'Hal."
"Or…" he thinks trying to calm her. "…intern you somewhere offshore for a very long time."
Kory is now struggling to breathe, its all too much. "Okay…"
"Stay with me. If they tell you, you are safe…"
"If they tell me I am safe…" she repeats. Richards waits for her to complete the phrase. "…they are going to kill me."
"Don't get in what?"
"Vehicles."
"Any vehicles."
"Okay, any vehicles."
"Just… you know… run."
"I will the run."
"Run."
"Run."
"And if they ask you about me…"
"Huh?" She pants, her head becoming dizzier with every word. "I do not know you. I do not know you at all." She thinks. "Who are you, Richard?" With that she finally falls unconscious, Richard catching her once again.
Richard looks at her. So beautiful, so innocent. He would make sure nobody hurt her.
Behind them, the plane goes with a loud explosion.
This is a new story ive been working on. Im still continuing my other story, I just wanted to post the first chapter of this one. Fyi I won't post as often as the other one. Hope you enojyed!