Darius held the gun firmly, keeping an eye on the door. Not that they'd be able to get in without Cleo's Miracle, but watching it felt important. Even if they appeared behind him, he'd notice before they could do anything.
Almost everyone on Arx Nubibus was unaware. He'd noticed some group flailing around trying to find the pilot controls, so he hacked them and locked their activities down. The others were probably all living their lives completely oblivious. Perhaps that was for the best. They'd experience a short terror, then death. Better than the dread and futile scrambling Cleo was feeling.
He felt bad about that part. Then again, they had turned him against Ida, which had led to her death. They deserved whatever they got.
As the ship tilted further to the side, Darius annoyed that it took so long to get the great vehicle to do anything, something moved in the room. He frowned and glanced where he'd seen the movement.
Ida. A strange groaning sound escaped from what was left of her vocal tract, and she stumbled forward on all fours, her head flopping strangely to one side. Darius froze and could only watch as she dragged her broken body towards a console. She staggered to her feet and crawled into the chair, then slammed her hands on the keyboard. After a few clumsy motions, she let out a noise of frustration.
"What is it, Ida?" Darius asked, walking over to her cautiously. Was it her? She still wasn't breathing, and when he placed a finger gently against her neck, there was no pulse.
How was this possible?
Ida seemed to register his presence, but kept trying to enter her password into the computer - a task she didn't seem to have the precise motor skills for. Darius remotely told the computer to let her in, curious as to what she'd do next.
She moved the mouse, and managed to open the piloting program after three or four tries. Instead of navigating all the complex menus, she clicked on the search bar and typed "saduitroppoiolkoty" before crying out again in frustration.
"aURTOPIPIOUL;KOPITR"
"ASUHYTFROP[IKLOTFRG"
Darius checked through the things she could have possibly been searching for and presented her with a list in the search results. She clumsily clicked on "Autopilot" and seemed to be trying to figure out how to re-engage it.
"Is that what you're trying to tell me?" Darius asked slowly, looking down at the frustrated girl with tears coming out of her functional eye. He ordered the ship to correct course and then turned the autopilot back on. Once again, it was an agonizing eternity before the change was notieceable, but Ida seemed satisfied and fell back in her chair, staring at the ceiling with her one eye.
He carefully picked her up, cradling her broken body.
"Ida?" Darius asked.
She didn't respond. Once again, she looked dead.
"Please wake up," he whispered, feeling like his broken heart was twisting in knots.
She'd been alive, hadn't she? She'd been here, telling him to stop. That she wanted Arx Nubibus to keep flying.
"Ida!" Darius held her as close as he could, careful to not cause any more damage to her body.
He had to save her. Had to fix her. He stumbled towards the door, determined to do whatever it took.
If Ida was still in there, he'd bring her back. For whatever reason, he'd been granted this miracle, and he was not about to waste it.
"I'm telling you, sir, we've got bigger problems on our hands!" Courtney insisted, keeping careful distance between herself and General Jenkins.
"And I'm asking how the hell you got in here and why the hell you think I'll believe you," Jenkins replied coldly. Sawyer was practically hiding behind Courtney, fuming at the lack of evidence they had for their argument.
"Just, please, sir, check the city's parameters. Surely you've got something that would quickly tell you if I'm wrong?"
"I don't see why I have to go along with any of this farce at all! Have you noticed how busy we are today? Something about your friends at Team Chaos releasing every single person in prison?"
"Please, sir!"
"Enough!" Sawyer snapped. "I am sick and tired of this shit. We are all going to die, and you won't even see it coming because you don't want to believe someone who has a Miracle. Or, what, is it only okay when they're on your specific team? Cuz, y'know what I heard? You kicked this one out of your organization for no good reason! And yet she still works hard for you, knowing full well that you don't give a shit about her. You don't deserve her, you moron!"
Sawyer took a few breaths as Jenkins took a slow breath and looked at Courtney.
"You were an officer?"
"Courtney Larsen," she replied. "Third Division, assigned to Sergeant Barron's squad. Relieved of duty by Lieutenant Medina for 'Slander against Colonel Evans.'"
Jenkins heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes, then motioned her away from his desk.
"Slander against the Evans girl, huh?" he asked, logging in. "Strangely enough, that makes you slightly more trustworthy. I'll check the parameters."
A few clicks later and his face went pale.
"You're right," he muttered. "Arx Nubibus is tilted slightly to the side. But it looks like it's actually correcting course."
"It is?" Courtney asked, running over to look at the monitor. Sure enough, the degrees it was tilted to the side were slowly ticking down. Relief flooded through her and Sawyer, the latter of whom fell to his knees.
"Courtney!" Cleo hopped through a portal, landing in the office. "We need you two. Now."
Without further explanation, she dragged the two of them through another portal, leaving General Jenkins feeling like he'd just seen a freak hurricane.
Back in the Underwing, the three of them met up with Joey and Ned, who were talking carefully with Darius, who held Ida's limp body in his arms, her crumpled head against his shoulder, still oozing blood.
"What's going on?" Courtney asked, stepping forward cautiously. Darius looked at her warily, then explained.
"Ida's alive. I need someone who can heal her."
Courtney frowned. It was totally ridiculous. Ida wasn't breathing. She hadn't been for a couple minutes now. Even if she'd somehow been able to be saved, she'd have irreversible brain damage. Did he want to revive her like that? Wouldn't that just make her mentally crippled for the rest of her life?
"Darius," Courtney said gently, "I don't think anyone can heal Ida. Not even with a Miracle. She's dead."
"No," Darius insisted. "She was alive in there. She told me to stop trying to crash the ship."
"She spoke?" Courtney asked.
"Not exactly. She moved to the computer and logged in, then turned the autopilot back on. Or, she tried. I had to help her."
"Darius..." Courtney sighed, then glanced between Cleo, Joey, and Ned.
"We'll do what we can," Ned said firmly. "Let's all head up and see if we can find anyone. Cleo, when we do, send Darius up. We'll text."
"I could just send us all to the healer squad," Cleo said.
"No," Darius said. "Ida and I don't move until someone's agreed to save her. Ned, Joey, Courtney, Sawyer, you go talk to them. If they won't help Ida, don't bother coming to get us."
Cleo sighed, then nodded cautiously and sent the four of them up top together.
"You know we can't help her?" Courtney asked with a sigh. "Darius will just be disappointed if we can't save her. And then who knows what he'll do?"
"I'm going to try anyway," Ned replied. "Joey, can you stay with me? In case I run into any..."
"I got you," Joey said, grabbing his brother's trembling hand. "Wanna hop up a couple levels and start looking?"
Ned grinned, then hopped on Joey's back. Together, they headed straight up, Ned crying out in fear and delight as they did.
Courtney sighed.
"Guess we should start looking around this level, huh?" Sawyer asked.
"I'm sure it's futile. We should let General Jenkins know what the current situation is. At least, that's where I'm going. You can feel free to do something else." Courtney started running, but Sawyer stopped her.
"You're not ditching me now," he insisted. With a wry smile, Courtney motioned for him to get on her back, and the two of them took off, Sawyer fighting to not scream from the intense speed. How did Ned manage to handle it so easily? Or maybe Joey was more gentle with his passengers.
He didn't have time to entertain those thoughts for long as Courtney sped back towards Military HQ.
