Iridescent: Chapter Twenty-Three

Iridescent

Chapter Twenty-Three

~Medical Leave~

After the Fall

Naru woke up to a light shining in his eyes. He squinted and tried turning his head away from the light. The light followed his movements however and wouldn’t go away.

“Stay still,” a voice told him.

Soon after, the light disappeared and he looked into the face of his doctor. Naru shot up and backed away. Dr. Jekyll simply stared at him before looking away at some equipment in the ambulance.

“Nice to see you as well, Naru,” the doctor said.

“Dr. Jekyll,” Naru’s voice was hoarse and an octave higher than he intended, “What are you doing here?”

Jekyll turned to look at him again, “I don’t know, saving your life or something of that nature. You were critically dehydrated. If you want I could leave. If I do, however, you chances on surviving are not overwhelmingly in your favor.”

“What do you mean?” Naru asked. He thought that if he could get away with it he would rather take care of himself.

The doctor sighed, “Well, you can’t eat any solids at the moment else your body will go into shock. Therefore you are on a liquid diet. You need an I.V. drip for a few days to get some liquid back into your system and that is before you can even drink any kind of liquid on your own. Did I mention that you’re legs need to be amputated? The bottom of your feet have serious burns as well. That just about covers half of what is wrong with you. Oh, and your most likely to die in the next twenty-four hours.”

“Oh,” again Naru’s voice jumped an octave.

“For now, get some rest,” Jekyll got up and walked out of the ambulance, “But not too much because you might go into a coma.”

The doctor grabbed his wide brimmed hat as he left. He closed the door and smiled to himself.

“Was that a smile I saw, Doctor?” Puppetmaster asked as he walked up to the ambulance.

Jekyll looked at the coming visitor. The smile on his face had disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. He pulled on his hat slightly.

“I haven’t the least idea what you mean,” Jekyll said.

Puppetmaster smiled, “How is our last patient doing?”

“He’s perfectly healthy,” Jekyll said, “He just needs a little while longer on the I.V. drip.”

“That’s good to hear,” Puppetmaster nodded.

He looked in the direction of Kumo and Chou. Kumo had a black blindfold over his eyes and his sister was helping him around the camp. She made sure he didn’t run into anything or anyone. Chou looked after her brother like any good sister would.

“How is Kumo doing?” Puppetmaster asked.

Jekyll looked over at the two for a moment, “He only has temporary blindness. In combination with his dehydration and his taking of the Blue Gold the stress on his body was too much. There was no lasting damage and he should get his eyes sight back gradually.”

“And his sister?” Puppetmaster pointed.

“I told her that they both need to take it easy and drink a lot of water,” Jekyll leaned against the ambulance, “She understood and I haven’t seen her without a full water bottle yet. Hina as well.”

Puppetmaster smiled, “Yeah, Hina is quite the fighter isn’t she. She hasn’t been quite herself without her brother. Are you sure he will be alright?”

Jekyll thought a moment, “Yes. He might be under the impression he might die at any moment in time but in reality he’s just fine.”

“Geez,” Puppetmaster shook his head, “I’m glad you aren’t my doctor.”

As the two talked like old friends, Chaud disembarked the bus. He looked around a moment before finding Hina sitting in the shade of one of the trucks. She looked up as Chaud walked up to her. Chaud sat down next to her.

“Why is it so hot?” Hina asked.

Chaud looked at her, “I think is has a large part to do with that we’re in a desert.”

“Why are deserts hot?” Hina asked again.

Chaud smiled and used his hands to demonstrate, “If I remember right it’s because the clouds get pushed up because of the mountains and the clouds kind of by pass this area. The cost isn’t as much as a desert. It rains more there.”

“Is that why there are so many oases there?” Hina questioned.

“Theoretically,” Chaud smiled.

“We’re headed over there right? At least that is what I hear,” Hina said.

“Yep,” Chaud nodded, “We’re headed off the Island.”

Hina looked at him, “You know, you are the most annoying person I know. I never thought I’d be happy to see you again so soon.”

“Thanks.” Chaud furrowed his eyebrows, “I think.”

“Don’t you think its ironic Naru gets stuck with Dr. Jekyll again?” Hina laughed, “I think it’s freaking hilarious!!”

Chaud started to look concerned, “Yeah, I should probably check on the poor guy.”

“Leave him for a bit. I think he deserves it for almost getting us all killed. Man, is this water good or what!?” Hina took a sip of water. She stopped a moment and looked at Chaud, “How are you holding up?”

Chaud shrugged, “I’m doing alright I guess. I like to think that I’m looking after Amber but it seems she’s the one doing the most looking after over me. You know, I think Naru really just wanted the best for you and to keep you safe. Even if it ended up a disaster unlike he planned.”

“Yeah, I know,” Hina sighed, “You sound like you’ve had your fair share of screw ups.”

Chaud nodded, “We big brothers try, you know.”

Hina smiled, “That might be true but we little sisters aren’t a bunch a pushovers you know. We can pick up your slack.”

“That’s good to know,” Chaud said as he thought to himself. He got up to his feet, “I think I’ll pay your brother a visit.”

“Tell him I laugh upon his misery!” Hina called.

Chaud walked toward the ambulance where Naru was being held. Puppetmaster looked at Chaud as he approached. He smiled and reached out a hand toward Chaud’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry about waking you up abruptly last night,” Puppetmaster apologies.

“I only got a bump on the back of my head. I’ll be fine,” Chaud stated.

Jekyll looked over at Chaud, “I could take a look if you’d like.”

Chaud shook his head, “No, I’m fine.”

Jekyll shrugged and crossed his arms, “If you drop dead in a few hours, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Chaud smiled awkwardly, “You’re joking right?”

“We’ll just have to see in a few hours,” Jekyll looked serious with his usual blank expression.

“Right,” Chaud said, “How is Naru doing?”

“Dead,” Jekyll said casually.

Puppetmaster smiled, “We were just talking about him. He’s going to be just fine. Only he doesn’t know that.”

“Is it cool if I pay him a visit?” Chaud asked.

Jekyll shrugged. He didn’t care either way so Chaud opened the ambulance and climbed in. Naru looked stressed out to say the least. He turned his head slowly toward Chaud. His skin was pale and his black hair didn’t help either making him look sickly. Jekyll’s mental games were already taking their toll. Chaud crossed his arms and sighed. Now he was going to have to persuade Naru that he was going to live no matter what Jekyll had said. That was going to take a while. Luckily they had some time on the trip to talk about it.

The Turn: Chapter Twenty-Three

The Turn

Chapter Twenty-Three

~Just You and Me~

Two Years before The Turn

Zara lay in bed. The rain from the day before was starting to let up. The early rays coming though the morning clouds. Slowly, Zara sat up. She had been unable to sleep very well the night before. Puppetmaster had been kind enough to walk with her all the way home pushing her bike for her. Later that night, she lay awake in bed thinking about how she was going to talk to the rest of her team. She was thinking about it still when the doorbell rang.

Curious, Zara made her way toward the door. She looked through the peephole and sighed. Zara rested her head against the door for a brief moment. She then opened it. Chaud stood there in a black sleeveless shirt and his usual cargo pants.

“Hey, Chaud,” she stated.

“Sup,” Chaud glanced at her bandaged arm, “What happened to your arm?”

Zara shrugged, “Guess biking in the rain was a stupid idea. Look, about almost running you over…”

Chaud shrugged, “I’m alive aren’t I? No harm, no foul.”

Zara smiled, “So what are you here for?”

“Just thought we could hang out,” Chaud said.

“Hang out?”

Chaud smiled, “Yeah. You’re not doing anything are you?”

Zara shook her head, “No, not really. I’ll be right out.”

She closed the door just to be a little mean and make Chaud stand out there. After changing her clothes, she grabbed her house keys and walked out of her apartment.

“Where are we going?” Zara asked as she locked the door.

Chaud shook his head, “I don’t know yet.”

Zara looked at him and rolled her eyes, “You’d better figure it out soon.”

“Do you have the key to the roof?” Chaud asked.

“I might,” Zara stated.

“Good,” Chaud walked toward the stair well, “We’ll start there then.”

Reluctantly, Zara followed him. Her building was a decent height. It defiantly wasn’t the tallest of buildings but it also wasn’t the smallest. It also had a lot of stairs. Not that there was anything wrong with walking up stairs, it was just a tedious work out.

When they reached the roof, Zara unlocked the door with one of her other keys and they both walked onto the roof. It wasn’t a great sight. There was garbage and trash lying around, vents spewing steam or smoke. The waist high cement wall was slightly off color being exposed to the elements. The floor was even worse. Zara tip toed through the disgusting mess behind Chaud so he wouldn’t see her acting so squeamish.

Chaud stood up on the cement ledge. White wings sprouted freely from his back. He stretched them, extending them to their full length, and flapped them once. After that, he looked back at Zara and held out a hand.

“Chaud,” Zara looked at him with skepticism, “What the heck are you doing?”

Chaud shrugged, “Thought you might want help getting up.”

“I think I can cope by myself,” Zara’s pride spoke for itself.

Zara made her way onto the ledge. She managed for the most part and stood beside Chaud looking down at the ground below.

“Can I have your right hand?” Chaud asked.

“Maybe,” Zara looked at him, “it really depends what you need it for.”

“Just grip on to my shoulder,” Chaud answered. Zara did, “Hang on tight,” Chaud said, “I don’t want to lose you.”

“Chaud wait—!”

Chaud leaned forward off the ledge, pulling Zara with him. Zara closed her eyes and threw her left arm around his neck and held on for dear life. Chaud’s wings spread to either side, trying to catch the wind. When they did, Zara could feel the change in speed that they were going. It wasn’t much but it was enough for Chaud to change his direction. His wings flapped to regain altitude. Soon though, they stayed extended as the two of them soared.

“Um,” Chaud said after a while, “I kind of need to breathe so if you could, I don’t know, loosen your grip on my throat?”

Zara forced herself to relax her left arm. Slowly, she pulled her right arm around his neck as well, making sure that she didn’t choke him. She realized that she was shaking as she situated herself on Chaud’s back. Her head rested on his left shoulder closer to his neck.

“You can open your eyes too,” Chaud stated.

Zara shook her head no. She just wanted Chaud to land as soon as possible so she could have both her feet firmly planted on the ground. But curiosity got the better of her. She slowly opened her eyes. They were not that far above the Island. They would have been just above the Tower if they flew over it. It was unnerving being so high without being inside some sort of aircraft.

The Island suddenly disappeared into blue as they passed over the ocean. Chaud flew up higher into the high cumulus clouds. Reluctantly, Zara sat up. She placed her shins against the base of Chaud’s wings. After that she gripped firmly onto his shoulder as she extended her other arm and tried to touch the clouds as they passed by. It was as if they were in a temporary fog. Zara’s arm got wet because of the water droplets.

“If I jumped, would you catch me?” Zara asked.

Chaud looked over his shoulder and smiled, “No.”

Nevertheless, Zara tried to stand up on Chaud’s back. She spread her arms to balance herself.

“You’re kind of heavy you know,” Chaud teased.

“Shut up!” Zara kicked him lightly in the back of the head.

She leaned back and fell. It was both the most liberating and frightening experience she had ever been through. Every muscle and fiber in her body was screaming for rescue as she hurled back down toward earth. Yet there was an underlying calm that she couldn’t explain.

The waters were getting closer as she fell head first. She couldn’t help but smile as she felt Chaud’s usual presence behind her. He gripped her arms and turned her body so that they skimmed the top of the ocean. Water sprayed in her face and Zara found herself laughing with the wind in her face.

Chaud increased his speed by flapping his wings a couple of times before gliding again. They headed toward a canyon that partially split the Island in two above the water. He flew between the two masses of land. Rock bridges connected two sides together providing passage for land travelers. Ocean water washed in and out below. Chaud never once slowed down as he flew under the walkways.

The canyon started to narrow, the sides of the walls getting closer and closer together. Zara looked ahead and saw the end of the canyon. It was a relatively flat wall, about a little more than Chaud’s wing length wide. The surface was riddled with caves and tunnels. Water even trickled down the face of the cliff from some of the caves.

“You trust me?” Chaud called as he flew toward one of the smaller tunnels on the cliff face.

“About as far as you can throw me,” Zara answered back.

Chaud smiled and he pulled her closer to his body. He wrapped his arms around her waist. A moment after that, they entered in to the cool darkness of the caves. Chaud dipped suddenly, avoiding a stalactite. The cool rushing air struck Zara in the face. She nervously gripped ahold of Chaud’s arms.

With the constricted air flow, Chaud had to exert a lot more effort to keep them both from smashing into stalagmites and stalactites alike. The darkness didn’t help either. Most of the time Chaud only saw the coming danger seconds before they crashed into it. But he seemed to know where he was going, Zara concluded. Sure there were a few unwanted surprises but for the most part she trusted Chaud.

There was a trickling sound that soon grew into a roar. Water dripping from the ceiling or coming from the ground seemed to all flow into a stream. Soon the stream turned into a rushing river as they traveled the underground passage. Chaud followed the water’s flow, avoiding disaster as best he could.

By the time Zara saw the light at the end of the tunnel the underground river roared so loud that she almost had to cover her ears. As soon as Chaud saw the end of the tunnel it was smooth sailing, no more dips or sudden jerks. Together they flew out of the tunnel frightening the birds near the mouth of the cave as they did so. The water fell down into a large basin.

Chaud flew around, gliding slowly. The basin was surrounded by wall of jutting rocks. The water was a crystal blue. There was one way the water could exit once it entered the basin and it was through another cave to the far left. In the middle of the basin was an enormous tree. In the tree was a wooden platform. Chaud landed on the platform, setting both him and Zara down gently.

The crashing of the waterfall was amplified by the surrounding rock walls. It was cool in the shade of the trees. Zara sat on the edge of the platform, her legs dangled over the edge and Chaud sat next to her. For a long moment neither of them said anything to each other.

“You know,” Chaud stated after a while, “No one on the team hates you.”

Zara looked at him, “You brought me all the way out here to tell me that?”

“Somebody needed to,” Chaud shrugged, “Thought it best if it was me.”

“And just how exactly is it not my fault?” Zara asked, “I allowed us to go in there without a backup plan and we almost got killed.”

“If I recall correctly,” Chaud stated, “in Cairo we had a plan worked out but as we got off the plane, we had to fight our way off. That defiantly wasn’t part of the plan. We could have died, but we didn’t.”

“That isn’t the same thing,” Zara muttered.

“Point is,” Chaud continued, “We could have died, but we didn’t.”

“How is that a point?”

“We could have died but we didn’t.”

“Chaud will you stop—”

“Say it with me, WE COULD HAVE DIED…” Chaud paused.

With a small smile, Zara finished the sentence, “But we didn’t.”

“Good! I always consider it a successful mission when everyone gets back with all four limbs and their head. That’s usually a good thing,” Chaud said with a smile.

“How’s Hina?”

“Pissed. She can’t wait to get her hands on one of those New Order folks.”

“And Naru?”

“He’s going okay. After the surgery, he went through some special treatment stuff that helps you heal faster, you know. Guess who the doctor was.”

“Oh, boy,” Zara could help smiling, “You’d thing Dr. Jekyll is doing this on purpose now.”

Chaud nodded in agreement, “Knowing him, he probably is. He probably gets some kind of sick pleasure off of tormenting him.”

“Poor Naru,” Zara nodded slowly as she went over the information, “And the others?”

“Well, Deontay’s chill as ever. Nothing seems to faze him too much. Vicky seems to be especially motivated. She’s been at the boxing gym frequently. She’s even on a winning streak against the guys.”

“That’s good,” Zara smiled.

Chaud looked at her, a smile on his face, “What are you thinking?”

“I was thinking how I don’t want this smudge so early in my career,” she looked at Chaud, “I don’t think I want to sit around.”

Chaud’s smile grew, “As always, you plan and I execute.”

Insanity Chapter Twenty-Three

Insanity

Chapter Twenty-Three

~Operation Fang~

Day Twenty-One

The rain fell hard on the Docks. The ships and wooden decks rattled with the large rain drops. The gutters were overflowing with rain waters. Puddles covered the streets and sidewalk. Fang stood in the torrents of rain. His white and black hair stuck to his face. He looked at the Docks, his eyes scanning every motion though the downpour.

He stood at the opening of a street that led to the Docks. The Docks was where people kept their recreational boats, usually the rich people left their boats here. Fang waited. He figured that they would contact him.

There was a motion and Fang’s eyes darted to it. He saw her now, coming off of one of the Yachts. Edonya still wore her pink clothing. A man with black hair and wore black and red clothing held a pink umbrella over her head. He stood to her right. She walked up to Fang with that smile on her face. The clown skipped on her left.

“Well hello,” Edonya smiled, “Fang, is it? You can call me Edonya.”

She offered her hand out for Fang to shake. He didn’t. She smiled anyway.

“I’m glad that you complied with our demands,” she said, “It’s always a pleasure doing business.”

Her gaze passed Fang, “Oh, hello Riff, Vise. Is there anyone following?”

Fang turned slightly. Two men followed behind him. He had sensed them but this was the first time he had seen them. One of them, Vise, was the fire eater in the circus. He too wore black and his hair was a rusty red color. The smile on his face was thin and sly. Riff was a little taller than Vise. He was the animal tamer. His hair was short and blond. He looked at Fang with blue eyes. A whip hung down from his belt.

“This is Thae,” Edonya motioned to her right.

Thae nodded, his eyes were black voids. His features seemed void to emotion. It was impossible to tell what he might be thinking.

“And this is Lire,” Edonya pointed to the clown, “He has no powers but I wouldn’t take him lightly. And that,” she pointed to the boat, “is Ibid with your little Arisa.”

Fang looked at the boat. Arisa stood in the boat in the rain with two identical girls holding her in place. She was one of the acrobats.

“Now, if you would come aboard and we’ll be on our way. Arisa will go free and—”

“What do you mean?” Fang asked.

“Well, all we wanted was you for her,” she looked confused, “Didn’t you put that in the letter?” she asked Thae.

“I wrote what you told me to,” Thae answered, his voice monotone.

“Hm,” Edonya placed her hands on her hips, “Oh, well, guess I forgot to mention it didn’t I.”

Thae barely moved, “It appears so.”

Edonya turned back to Fang, “Well, because we messed up you can go back and talk about out new terms with the others. We want you for her.”

“Why?” Fang asked.

Edonya shrugged, “Ask our boss. He’s the one who wants you.”

Fang was silent. The rain lightened up a little. This was going to change things but not all that much. He glanced at his watch. Five more minutes. He needed a little more time. Fang tapped his watch twice.

“Well, I guess we might as well get this over with,” Fang muttered.

Edonya smiled and hopped. She turned around and walked back toward the ship, “Right this way, if you please. You sure you don’t want to say your goodbyes?”

“There’s no need to,” Fang said.

Thae’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. Fang met the gaze.

“Thae! I’m getting wet!” Edonya complained.

“My apologies,” Thae said and followed behind her with the umbrella, his eyes were always on Fang however.

They walked toward the boat. Arisa saw Fang and tried to squirm out of her captors grasp. Edonya signaled that it was alright and Arisa ran to Fang. Fang kneeled as Arisa ran into him. She cried into his shoulder and apologized repeatedly for all the trouble. Fang reassured her that she had nothing to apologize about.

“You’re coming home, alright,” Fang said.

Arisa nodded. Her tears mixed with the rain on her face. She gripped Fang closer.

“I need to go,” he said.

“Go where,” Arisa face was buried in Fang’s shoulder.

“I want you to go on home, alright?” Fang said.

Arisa looked up at him, “You’re not coming back, are you?”

Fang glanced at Thae who was still staring at him, “Wish I could. But you need to get home before you catch a cold.”

Arisa looked like she was about to cry again.

Fang kissed her on the forehead, “Now, no more of that. No need to be so blue. Now go on home and stay out of the puddles. Oh, and defiantly stay out of the alleys. You never know what kind of shadowy figures might be lurking there. Some might have guns. I want you to be careful, alright, and patient. Our yard is packed with ravens and crows. They can be rather mean so just stick on the path.”

Arisa’s eyes seemed to understand a hidden meaning. She nodded and gave Fang one last hug before running down the street. Arisa was extra careful with jumping over puddles. Fang stood up and looked at Edonya.

“When do we set sail?” he asked.

“As soon as possible,” she smiled, “Thae, prepare the boat, please.”

Before they boarded the boat they searched Fang for any weapons. Naturally, they found the silver gun and confiscated it. The boat was fairly neat and expensive looking. There was no way they could afford all of this on their circus pay. Fang glanced around, committing everything to memory. He felt the boat start to make its way out to sea.

“Pity, you have no way of getting off now,” Thae said.

Fang glanced at him, “What makes you say that?”

He noticed a map with a city circled. Thae noticed and covered the map. He glared at Fang.

“What do you have planned?” he said.

“Honestly,” Fang smiled, “nothing.”

Thae looked unconvinced. He looked out the window as if expecting to see something. The rain had stopped and the sun was starting to peak out of the clouds. Fang looked too. From behind one of the clouds appeared a black speck. Thae squinted. He pulled Fang to the deck.

“What is that?” he asked Ibid.

The girl looked at the speck and shrugged uncaringly. Whatever it was it was getting larger. Fang’s sensitive ears already picked up what it was. He sighed and shook his head.

Edonya came out and squinted, “Thae, what’s going on?”

Thae glanced at Fang, “I’m sure he knows.”

“Oh, Fang,” Edonya said, “I told you not to have anyone follow us. Lire,” she said to the clown.

He laughed as he comically picked up a colored beanbag. Lire then picked up a kind of launcher. He placed the beanbag in it and aimed at the black speck. The launcher fired. Fang had a sinking feeling that this wasn’t going to be a good thing. There was a large explosion and at first Edonya looked satisfied. But she looked at Lire and saw that he was frowning.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“It detonated before impact,” Vise answered.

“What does that mean?” Edonya asked.

“It means they shot it down,” Thae glared at Fang.

Fang smiled slightly, “Well done, Alister.”

“Nice shot!” Shadow called out.

Alister rested his sniper rifle on his shoulder as he stood outside of the helicopter. He held on to the rim of the side door with his left hand. Alister smiled.

“I just hope they send more my way,” he said, “You know what trouble Fang ‘as gotten ‘iself into?”

Shadow shook his head, “No, but we’re way off the plan. How’s it handling, Raven?”

“Fine,” she said as she flew the helicopter, “Thanks to Penelope, it was able to start.”

“Remind me again how you know how to fly a helicopter?” Alister asked as he straightened his arm to aim.

“Child soldier, remember,” Raven looked back.

“Hey, keep your eyes on the…um…air,” Alister fired.

Raven maneuvered the helicopter to avoid the center of the explosion.

“What I want to know is where Penelope learned to hotwire a helicopter,” Shadow glanced back at her.

Penelope shrugged, “I-i-internet?”

“Not buyin’ it,” Alister said as he fired three more times.

Three other explosions appeared in the helicopters path.

“S-s-so what’s the plan?” Penelope asked, changing the subject.

“When we fly over Penelope and I will go and drop down,” Shadow said, “Alister you do what you do with that thing and Raven just keep doing what you’re doing.”

“So descriptive,” Raven said.

“Not quite like Fang’s plans,” Alister commented, “But it’ll do.”

Shadow gave him a look, “Sorry, I could make the plan that I throw you out of here head first.”

“Hey! I said it’ll do!”

“Rocket!” Raven called.

Alister threw the sniper rifle into the helicopter, “Hand me the machine gun,” he told Penelope.

While Penelope rushed to get the weapon, Alister clipped something from his belt onto the roof of the helicopter. It was attached to a string that kept him from falling out. Penelope handed him the machine gun. Alister leaned out of the helicopter again.

“Lean left!” he shouted.

Raven tilted the helicopter left. Alister got a good view of the coming rocket and fired the gun. A stream of bullets fired at the coming theat. The empty shells fell on Penelope.

“Gosh! Will you just shoot that thing down already!?” she shouted.

“I’m workin’ on it!” Alister shouted.

Raven looked concerned, “You’re cutting it close, Alister!”

“Imagin’ David an’ Goliath! I gotta get in it the right spot!” Alister shouted over the rain of bullets.

The rocked grew closer. Raven couldn’t wait any longer. She turned the helicopter sharply to the left. Time slowed. The helicopter barely passed the rocket. As it passed, Alister fired at it. It detonated. The explosion blew Alister back into the helicopter. The string snapped and he fell against the door. The door opened suddenly and Alister fell into open air. Penelope unbuckled from her seat. She reached for Alister as she jumped from the helicopter. Shrapnel riddled their helicopter. Shadow and Raven ducked at the impact, both barely escaped death as the shrapnel blew past them. The engines stalled.

***

To Be Continued…