I Hate Flying

[Nox]

The only thing keeping Nox from freaking the fuck out was the tiny one day old child strapped to his chest. People looked at him oddly as he carried the tiny baby around in a sling wrap, but Nox really didn't care. Though they were more or less staring at the missing arm as he paced the rows of the terminal they waited. They had arrived way too early. Nox's idea. He had to wrap his head around getting on a fucking plane.

Sage watched him from his seat. He looked as high as ever, and he knew he was busy doing a billion things in his head. When Sage found out he'd busted his arm he got this radical grin on his face that said he was going to use Nox for yet another test of something. Nox didn't mind -- it was afterall their entire relationship.

But Sage was a good friend and he'd set everything up. First class tickets so Nox wouldn't freak out with space. And their undisclosed friend would meet them at the airport.

Nox had gotten a text from Anna about a person claiming to be his brother. Sage had latched on to that quickly and was running facial recognition and pulling up everything and anything about the so-called brother. Not possible but still it was entertaining none-the-less and it kept Sage busy. But that wasn't the only strange thing that happened while he paced -- he received a strange call from a person everyone thought was dead.  Sage was all up in that one too.  He had so much going on Nox wondered how he managed to keep it straight, he was having a hard time not hyper focusing on the plane they were about to get on. Thankfully there was Lily.

Sterlilng had stopped by before he left and met the rest of the crew. She was excited to have more kids her age around, and Liv could show her how to heal. And they got discussing all sorts of things and they were both excited to learn new things. Liam looked sad but whenever he saw Nox looking at him he smiled shyly. Nox was pretty sure the kid had a crush on him. But they could deal with that later.  Who doesn't adore their knight in shining armor. Nox had saved his life quite literally from the sounds of the story he told. Nox was more than happy to be a friend to that one. He understood it far more than anyone else ever would.

Sterling had also brought the original Lily back and Nox was planning a fountain for the lotus in his room. He wished for his hoodie but he didn't know where to find Raffe, he'd taken a leave and hadn't been back to the club in a while.  Nox wasn't sure what happened to either gift he'd left, he hadn't asked and he hadn't bothered to look in Raffe's old room either. It was too sad.  

There wasn't much to do other than pace and wait until their flight was called.  And think -- way too much time to think.

[Ryker]

Having worked his way back into the custody’s good graces, his lips were practically painted brown and puckered raw from all the ass-kissing. It was worth it he decided upon accepting this new assignment. Though realizing the destination, a small part of him worried this was some test. Did he have the balls to willingly walk back into a country that locked him up for life as a spy? Even if it was a giant set-up, Ryker’s danglers were bigger than all the other motherfuckers put together. So he accepted the assignment, a smug-ass expression on his face, and packed accordingly.

He strolled through airport customs, fake identity all wrapped up in a nice big bow, he gave the security personnel a friendly nod and smile in that asinine way that Americans greeted strangers - like they wanted to lick ass everywhere they went.

On anyone else blue jeans, sneakers, a sweater and a ballcap would look ridiculous, but Ryker made that shit look good. He left customs with a swagger in his step that made the Border Officer watch him walk away.

Ryker scanned the scene in search of his target, finding the terminal was packed. When finally he spotted the guy, a frown overtook his fake American, wide-eyed, dumb as a rock expression.

He hefted his duffel bag, which was serving as a carry on for his belongings, and approached.
“Nox Durante?” He asked, midwest American accent perfect, and while he sized the man up, his gaze inevitably landed on the rat clinging to his chest.

[Nox]

Nox's mind was racing as he paced. Sage was off in la-la land seeming watching nothing at all as he stared into space. A man wearing a baseball cap and sporting an American accent stopped in front of him and asked after someone. With a smirk Nox could have said, nah man, but he just chuckled to himself. "Aye. You must bed Ryder Tate. Our benefactor," Nox nodded to Sage staring off into space doing whatever calculations he had decided were necessary. Whatever algorithms made his mind tick were beyond Nox's comprehension. "is Sage Parker." Nox didn't bother introducing Lily, it wasn't important and he'd figure it out sooner rather than later anyway. Lily was quiet, she'd been fed an hour ago and likely would be a bit on edge once they took off. He was going to be on edge when they took off. Hopefully there wasn't much turbulence. Last thing he wanted was another airplane crash while he was on board.

"You ready to go deal with the funeral rites of our beloved uncle?" Sage came up with an elaborate story as to why they were traveling together -- Nox and this Ryder. Sage was there to see his people. What people were left anyway. And he said he had plans for my arm, which he stowed away in his bag and he'd been playing with it since Nox gave it to him. Whatever he was doing it didn't matter to Nox much. Nox shifted Lilly with the half arm and offered Ryder his hand in welcome. "Suppose we'll be spending a bit of time together."

[Ryker]

“Yup, that’s me.” He added a nod, clearly back in character. He wasn’t ordered to keep his identity secret from his traveling companions, but he wasn’t stupid enough to talk about it in the open.

“See you got through security fine, but you picked up an extra piece of luggage,” he eyed the sleeping rat. It looked about the size of a limp chicken. Couldn’t be very old, and Nox was missing an arm. How the hell did he pick up and move a baby around with just one?

The introduction with Sage lasted a split second. The man seemed to glance upward in acknowledgement before returning to full out ignoring him. Probably ‘special’ or some bullshit.

“Hope yah don’t mind an upgrade. These legs don’t exactly fit in coach,” he smacked himself on the thigh, denim pants making a slapping sound. Ryker had a few inches on Nox, though he figured Sage was tiny enough to fit into the overhead compartment.

[Nox]

Nox chuckled. "Sage already put us in First Class. He doesn't travel any other way. Perks of being a genius I guess."

A message ran across the land warrior lens he'd put in before he left the house. He hated them, but the glasses were a bit more complicated and harder to explain. Nox read the message from Sage. He'd found some things out. And one of them was the true name of their riding companion. Not that Nox cared. The burns alone said this guy had a past and he though he looked benign enough now Nox was pretty certain that he wasn't a slouch and he was probably a bit more dangerous than he looked right now. His accent was pretty good for a russian. It was impressive.

His comment about Lily made him laugh and his smile was genuine. "Yeah I just found her sitting on the floor someone just left her." He hadn't committed any kidnapping but she wasn't luggage either. The papers were legal. At least as far as anyone could tell. That was the very first thing Sage did when he found out Lily was coming with. Legally she was his. Not biologically but unless someone did a paternity test they'd never know. Legally Lily was his kid. And even though it was barely days old he didn't see like without her now. It was already causing a ruckous in his life. Oriena was sure to throw a fit. Thankfully he had plenty of built in baby sitters.

"You have a preference for window or aisle?" It might matter who got to sit where. There were only three seats and Nox was not about to sit in a fucking window seat. His body shivered at the thought. And he hoped that Lily remained quiet, he didn't want to have to pull upon the power on the plane... which he wouldn't have to if he did it now.

Nox reached into the sludge of the power and wrestled it into submission through the grime. Today it felt stickier and heavier than usual, like the horde was doubling down on keeping him from it. But they were oddly quiet as long as Lily were close -- another reason to keep her so tight against his body. He wove a noise dampening area around himself and Lily in particular. It would keep most people form noticing her crying should she burst into tears before her ears popped.

[Sage]

Sage had been busy. Way too busy. Aiden was off doing things with the spear and his novel and they spent the nights together but their days were their own. And since neither of them had a real job it looked alot different than normal people.

Sage had completed the super cooled computer room in Aiden's basement. And he'd begun curating his list of friends and their secrets and starting up his services again. He had a lot more thanks to Nox's activity around Moscow. He had nearly the whole city as part of his eyes and ears. It was pretty amazing to be able to find anyone he wanted in Moscow. He'd had that in Alexandria and DC but that was home. This wasn't.

Things slowed a little while Nox was away, but while Nox was away Sage had connections now in London and throughout China thanks to his friend. Nox didn't even know what he was doing most of the time, though Sage imagined Nox knew everything wasn't rainbows and puppy dogs. He knew Sage well enough.

But Sage had kept tabs on the twins and had even visited Raffe a time or two, the first time taking Raffe up on that drink he had not gotten. Maybe he should have -- maybe Nox and Raffe would still be together, not that Sage beleived in lying but it might have been better if Nox were not so insanely 'good'. And that's pushing the envelope, he wasn't good -- not in the moral sense he was morally grey at best, but he always had the good intentions. Everything was all on the up and up. As long as you didn't tell him, he didn't care. Not that he'd ever turn Sage in for the things he did. Morally grey area again. Sage didn't hurt innocents. That's why they got along.

While Sage had been visting Raffe at the bar at Kallisti he'd found a special little ping from tiny little signals that he barely remembered where there. And after a little digging Sage had hacked the tiny nanobots in Raffe's blood stream too. Now he had a second body to determine natural things with. And Raffe, he could channel. That was awesome luck.

In Sage's cooled basement room he had a container of replicating nanobots he'd pulled from his own blood and modified for his own purposes. They lived in a special fluid which his parents had created for larger more complex machines but it was blood like and would keep the little guys alive without too much effort.

Sage had modified them to do all sorts of things and now with Nox's arm busted he had a perfect opportunity to inject his friend. Nox's power in channeling was the key to understanding how to get the imaging software from the holo program to render what a channeler sees when they do their healing thing. At least that was Sage's theory. They needed to understand how the so-called weaves traveled through the body and how they could be interpreted without having to inject every patient with the nanobots.

It was a complicated thing and Sage had algorithms running simulations and he still needed data. Lots of data. But getting willing participants for an undocumented study wasn't going to cut mustard and Cruz was slacking in his job. He was supposed to be doing things the legit way but he'd fallen into some thing that he just wasn't roused from. Sage had an idea of what was going on, the girls following him, their placement of stickers and such. Sage even imagined they were manipulating Cruz somehow, but he could never figure it out -- it was probably some monster thing.

The scans from Raffe were inconclusive, Sage really didn't have anything other than his own to compare them to, so he didn't know anything more with a small sampling. But after Nox did his thing, they were going to visit some old friends. Not his friends, mind you, they were friends of his parents. His fucking parents! The same ones who put the thing in his head. He was mad about it when he told Grim about what they had done, but really was he mad? This was who he was. He was The Wicked Truth! And he liked who he was, in all forms.

And he was all over Nox's strange life. A professed brother, a strange call from Connor Kent -- a dead man. A brand new bouncing baby girl. Sage was amused that Nox had named her Lily, after the lotus Raffe had given him. Gave Sage hope that maybe Nox and Raffe would reconcile, but Nox was happy. Sage hadn't seen him as happy ever in his life. And he'd seen Nox with his family, with Aurora and his mom. He'd been watching them for years through Aurora's eyes, and Nox had never had an easy life. And now with that tiny little thing strapped to him he was happy -- a fucking smile that was real. He'd seen it with Raffe, but Nox blew that to shit and back.

Nox's life was full of interest and intrigue and so was their new friend. Ryder Tate wasn't who he claimed, but then again did you expect some one the Ascendancy is sending with Nox to stop an assassination attempt going to be going in as who they were. It's a wonder Nox was, but Nox was a US citizen it is far easier just to say he's going home for a visit -- which he is -- than to hide his identity. His too, they were just going home, and Nox knew how to stay off the radar. Sage had to employ all sorts of tricks to keep tabs on him but it mostly helped that he had Nox's wallet tagged and the man never left home without it.

Ryder was really Ryker Petrović, a Russian military operative, and most of anything on his was classified. Sage didn't dig deeper just told Nox he was a dangerous man. Not that Nox would underestimate him, he was also a channeler, but he didn't tell Nox, Nox would figure it out easily enough. But Ryker went into the same algorithm as everyone else, digging up information on everyone he met, storing it for later use and ticking off anything of interest that might come up to be flagged for actually reading.

Nox and Ryder were talking and Sage blinked coming back to the real world. His connection wasn't gone but it was diminished as he focused on the real world. An announcement over the speakers as the flight attendant spoke. "First class now boarding."

That was them. Sage gathered Nox's bag and slung his own over his shoulder. Nox didn't have anything other than the one bag for himself and a small bag for all of the things Lily might need which was more than what Nox even owned for himself. Her bag was bigger than his. They had checked most of her things opting only for the essentials on the plane with them. Sage handed Nox his bag. "That's us. Figure out where everyone is sitting?"

[Ryker]

If he had known this assignment came with a fucking infant, Ryker would have declined it. Perhaps the little thing might choke on its own spittle, that would shut it up. Maybe something like that could be arranged. It surely wouldn’t take much, not with such fragile windpipes. What possessed Nox to just keep it? If he wanted to be so bloody heroic, take it to an orphanage at least. Lugging it on an international flight certainly wasn’t in its best interest.

He only murmured something of acknowledgement, but gave no other commentary on the matter. To answer the question about their seats, he said “aisle,” with a tone that suggested such choice to be the obvious one, but if he was stupid enough to offer, Ryker would take it.

On board, Ryker stowed away his luggage in the overhead and folded himself into the spacious seat, getting comfortable.

((You can advance us if you want. Ryker won’t be very chatty unless he’s talked at, and he’ll sleep lightly for a while.))

[Nox]

Did you put the big scary dude with your best friend? or some random stranger? Nox wondered to himself but Sage was the one who offered the suggestion "I'll sit with Nox, so the baby doesn't bother you." He said to Ryder.

It was probably for the best.

Nox's anxiety shot through the roof the moment he stepped over the threshold on to the plane proper. He'd flown twice before both back and forth to the US from Moscow. Now he was doing it again. And for what? A job that barely paid? He wasn't even sure if he got paid. Sage handled almost all his finances and Nox only spent what he knew he had in the bank. Which wasn't the one where all the money was apparently. Nox hoped nothing was illegal and Sage had been forth coming when he asked, he had papers for everything so Nox assumed everything was in order. Not that he cared really. He just didn't want to get caught off guard or sent to jail for tax evasion or something. That's be the shit for all the people he's killed.

Nox sat in the aisle seat and Sage took the window, while Ryder was across from him. There was plenty of room, warm towels and drinks to go around. Of which Nox was grateful for the room. Lily barely fussed as they waited for take off.

The flight attendants all commented on how small she was, and how adorable it was to see a Dad with his daughter. Little did they know she was barely a few days old and not even his. Not that he was kidnapping, legally she was.

When the plane started moving Nox's hands gripped the arms tightly and Sage put his hand on top of his. "Just breathe."

That was alot harder than it should have been. But soon they were high above the clouds and Lily started to fuss but no one around them was bothered, the bubble of silence around her was just for Nox and he soothed and cooed at her like the dutiful father he was pretending to be. He couldn't help the smile on his lips, the feeling of her in his arm, he even forgot about the broken one that sat in Sage's luggage.

Sage had a plan. He always had a plan and his friend was leaning back in his chair doing what he did best and he looked like he was higher than a kite, and he was, but not on anything he could share. People asked and Nox had to wave them off.

They had to transfer once with a few hour layover, not something Nox was happy about. His anxiety was over the top and the horde was tearing at his mind. Fuck he wished Ori was there. Something anything to take the fucking edge off the horde.

But the kid in his arms cooed and Nox looked down. The rage and the fury of the horde turned focus at the sight of the little one, like it had forgotten the child. It was new and welcomed even by the horde -- the whole go forth and procreate was done. It had a child to rear. It felt right. Still Nox wanted to ripe something to shreds but with Lily in his arms he was at least partially satiated. Something had finally gone right.

[Nox]

contineud here