Hey guys! You're in for a really special treat for this chapter! Gonna meet some new faces, some of them might look a little familiar from a different path walked.
Big thanks to @rogueshadeaux! You'll understand why when you read the chapter. ;)
Without further delay, Let's jump in!
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*HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK*
The sound of the HEMTT’s horn blares through the Convoy as Dove lead-foots it through this circus of a city, I’m assuming to find a hospital. A sharp turn nearly sends me to the floor along with some plants. Goddamn it! Kid’s driving like an absolute moron! Another turn and another jostle almost sends me careening into Kestrel as she gets on the radio mounted to the wall.
“Caper to Base, Caper to Base!” Kestrel barks into the radio. “Get a trauma team ready outside of Mercy Medical! We’re coming in hot and we have a live one! Over!” There is some chatter over the line that I could barely hear, but Kestrel could. “Yes, get Bear and get the twins! It’s Code Red urgent. Over!”
I gawk at the Gunsmith as she ends the communication and relays something to the panicking bird up-front. My head is full of questions; of who this “Bear” is and who the “twins” are. Though I have to admit, I’m impressed with Kestrel’s leadership.
I can’t help but to wonder, with how Kestrel handled everything, I’m genuinely surprised that she’s not the leader. Why isn’t she? I know that with our past, I’ve seen how nasty and vicious she could be, but I’m someone she hates, so she has no loyalty to me. With her team, however, she’s as loyal as they come. Ready to go to bat when they’re threatened, even standing up to me, the Beast, when I started verbally going after Mako… Are there some other personality traits that hinder her that I haven’t seen or is this a personal choice?
Perhaps… Is there something that we both share in common?
A sudden turn nearly makes me tumble into Kestrel and Mako as the dodo bird driving skids to a halt. I wanna yell at the idiot, but with the frenetic energy buzzing in the air, I decide against it. Kid’s spooked enough, not gonna add to it. Though I will give him a good zap later for the dumbass driving.
Mako and Kestrel quickly open the door as Pangolin’s voice begins to rise from a pitiful whimper to a scream. Damnit! The pain meds are wearing off and it won’t be long until he’s thrashing again! Thankfully I can see we stopped in front of a hospital and there’s a response team outside with a stretcher at the ready when the doors are open. I help Mako get the Brick Spartan off of the cot to transfer him, Dove joining in later after he puts the HEMTT in park. With Pangolin secured, we rush inside.
“Where are they?” I hear the Gunsmith bark out as she rushes to the head nurse. “Where’s Sbiaw and Ḱaʔk̓aʔ?!” I had to steel myself as to not guffaw at the nonsense that just tumbled out of Kes’ mouth. Sbee-yaw?? Ca-ca???? The fuck kind of callsigns are those?! Especially the second one, what brain-dead dumbass uses the Spanish word for “shit” as a callsign?! I can feel my mind wanting to continue on that train of thought, but a bellow quickly derails it.
“OUT OF MY FUCKING WAY, I NEED TO GET TO MY SON!!!!”
I turn my head to see, but I’m quickly yanked away by Kestrel and Mako. I’m about to give them hell for touching me without permission, but when I see what’s barreling down the hallways, I understand quickly why.
An absolute Amazoness of a woman, 7’0” tall, blazing red hair and a bear mask on her face, is charging down the hall like a rampaging bull, knocking away anything blocking her straight-shot path to us, specifically to Pangolin. As much as I hate to admit it, if I hadn’t been pulled out of the way, that woman would have sent me flying.
Behind the woman, looking tiny compared to her, were two individuals rushing to keep up with the rampaging mother. A man with brown hair that almost has a metallic shine to it and seafoam eyes and a woman with black hair and brown eyes, both of them equally focused on getting to the Spartan as well.
Soon, all hell breaks loose as soon as Pangolin starts screaming in pain. The meds must have worn off. The man with the shiny hair turns his arms from flesh to steel with a thought and helps Bear with holding the howling man down, the metal conduit using rebar to make restraints to keep Pangolin from thrashing and hitting someone. The black-haired woman walks up to Kestrel and starts talking to her, questioning her about “What the fuck has gotten into Pangolin??” What they were saying, I couldn’t hear clearly over the chaos, but I know as soon as Kestrel mentions “blink scorpions” the woman’s face went pale.
“Everyone! Get Pangolin in the Poison Ward asap!!” The woman shouts in alarm. “Double time it! If we don’t get antivenom and anti-corrodium compounds in him soon, he’s going to be in deep shit!!” Anti-corrodi-wha?! What does that even mean?! First we get stupid names and now this?! What in the hell is happening??? I don’t get any time to think about it before everyone scrambles as fast as they can without knocking over the stretcher. I can feel the beginnings of a cold sweat form as a foggy memory slips in from the mental maelstrom, the memory of myself being on a stretcher with the same chaotic energy around me before everything went black.
What happens next blurs together, adrenaline and chaos making everything hazy. A flurry of panicking feet with Bear leading the charge and clearing the way while everyone else, me included, rush the stretcher down the hall.
We’re about to get to the door, but the black-haired woman stops us. Dove gives her a dismayed look
“What the hell, Crow?!” He blurts out as the medical staff take Pangolin into the room.
“Don’t start with me, Dove.” The woman, Crow, warns the Get-Away. “You know the rules, we can’t have too many people in the room right now. Brent’s allowed in there because he’s going to help keep Pangolin under control until we can get his pain managed and the detox procedure started. Bear’s allowed in because she’s his mother.”
“But I’m his brother and she’s my mother too!” Dove protests as he is about to step forward, but Kestrel puts her hand on his shoulder.
“Drop it, Dove.” The Gunsmith states firmly. “I know you’re worried about Pango, but Crow’s right. Right now, it’s best for there to be as few bodies as possible.”
“But mom-”
“- Can help Coyote with controlling Pangolin if he starts wigging out.” The Gunsmith interrupts. “Look, let’s not give Crow and the staff grief and wait out with everyone. When Pango’s stable, then we can visit.” I can see Dove giving Kestrel a heated glare, but he sighs with an “alright, fine.”
“I’ll keep you all updated.” Crow assures Dove before she turns to look at me with a curious, yet cautious look. I don’t pay her much mind, I’m too focused on Kestrel and Dove to really notice the funny look.
With Dove finally convinced, we head off out to one of the waiting rooms. I rub my temples as I hear my tinnitus start setting in and a headache rearing its ugly head. I could use a stiff drink.
Actually, scratch that. I need some warm water and a nap.
Jean-Éric Vergne of DS Penske, Nick Cassidy of Jaguar TCS Racing & Oliver Rowland of Nissan Formula E Team during the Berlin E-Prix (11/05/24) by Simon Galloway
#congratulations #DanielLee & @burberry team @BURBERRY #24 🖤🇬🇧
theestallion:
My first @nike collection is OUT NOW 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 get it while it’s hot hotties because it’s almost all SOLD OUT !!! I can’t wait to see yall in it ❤️🖤
regejean:
BAFTA NIGHTS
@giorgioarmani
@longines
@holly_macnaghten
johnboyega:
Night out with big sis 💕
@burberry by Daniel Lee Winter 2024
📸: @lloydpursall
kellyrowland:
Mea Culpa Press Run
💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
“Mea Culpa” out Feb.23rd
THIS FRIDAY!!!
bookertfivex:
One Team. One Dream.
colewalliser:
VICTORIA MONET! I’m always a fan of shooting couples on The GlamBOT but not often is the double a mother and daughter! Victoria was awesome and Hazel was so cute! Though I think she might have been a bit overwhelmed so I tried to use my inside voice when directing this one, opposed to my typical red carpet screaming lol. This one is fun, hopefully I’ll get to shoot the two of them next year! #victoriamonet #colewalliser #glambotbts #livefrome #grammys
Hey guys! I can't believe I'm one chapter away from the big 3-0 of my story! It still blows me away hoe far this story has come and I have you all to thank!
I've been chomping at the bit to write this chapter and the next as they're the stepping stones to something super exciting! I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Without further delay, let's jump in!
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The sun is now high in the sky as we had finally gotten to Junk Food Alley after having to take a breather. I didn’t want to, I just wanted to get some food and get back to the hospital, but having world upending information dropped onto you like a metric fuckton of dynamite into your brain tends to make one need to sit down to process everything.
After our orders were placed and a small wait, Crow and I sat at a table while Mako’s getting our food. There’s a bit of an awkward silence between us as aside from the Corrodium conversation, we really didn’t have much to talk about and if I’m to be honest? I don’t think my brain can handle any more surprises.
I fidget with my hands as I pop electricity between my fingertips. Crow doodles on her pants with a permanent marker. Interesting choice of relaxation but I’ve seen weirder.
“Do I know you from somewhere…?” I hear Crow pipe up, I turn my head towards her and tilt it.
“Do I look familiar?” I question. Crow’s about to answer, but Mako returns with the food and the question is quickly dropped in favor of the carnival snacks. I take mine and thank Mako for getting it before taking a couple of bites and everyone else tucks in.
The funnel cakes are perfect, golden brown, crisp to perfection and the powdered sugar piled high wraps it up with a nice bow. The churros are equally delicious and crunchy, the sweetness of the sugar and the spice of the cinnamon dance on my tongue. Both carnival snacks hit the spot when it comes to my sweet-tooth.
Yet… Even with as good as they are… I struggle to fully enjoy my food as I poke the funnel cake with a churro. My mind too busy trying to process everything to truly savor the food the way it deserves.
It feels like the onslaught of thoughts is never-ending, I’m drowning in a sea of new information and the waves crash me into rocky crags and cliffs before pulling me back out into the deep just to do it again. All of this while I’m trying to swim for my damn life. Desperately trying to sort out everything, make sense of it.
In the maelstrom, a familiar question rings out once more. Questions of twisted minds and warped bodies. What corrupts what. Does the power itself corrupt or is it merely a catalyst for something already there?
Now there’s a new variable, Corrodium. An element that turns this question on its head.
Typically when this question comes up, I think of those whose powers twisted them. Sasha driven mad, Alden in his rage… Even I’m twisted by my own power. Blood red eyes glare out when I’m angry, my skin desaturates to a sickly pale when about to unleash the full salvo of my power on whatever unlucky bastard decided to royally piss me off.
Yet now, with this Corrodium, there’s something that can turn a half-way decent person into a monster. It’s the body breaking the mind.
The only thing I can recall that could do anything remotely close to what Corrodium does was that bug-bastard Bertrand. Using his powers to turn people into those Swamp things, nothing more than feral animals that imprint on the first person they see. This Corrodium shit? It makes that seem like a kindness.
The worst part? This is a metal, a physical thing with no will or motive. Something that was either made by accident or, what I’m more inclined to believe, made on purpose. Or it’s something that’s natural and mined from the goddamn ground.
Feels like every time I’m starting to get an iota of an understanding of a Conduit’s power and its connection to their humanity, something else comes up and pulls the rug right out from under me.
And to top it all off, there’s a slight… Undercurrent of anger, a fury towards feelings I don’t understand, but it quickly gets washed away by another crashing wave of confusion.
I can hear the girls chattering away, but my mind is so full of… Well, everything… That I really can’t process what they’re going on about. I can hear Crow giving Mako hell about not giving me a “Wildlander 101” and how Bear taught her better while Mako tries to appease the irritated Water Conduit with a promise of rectifying that situation later tonight. Great… More information for my already overclocked brain to process, information I should have known in the first place apparently.
Better late than never I guess, but I will have a stern talk with the Shark later as I thought we had addressed this very problem back in Droptown.
I stare down at my half-eaten funnel cake as I poke at it with a churro, every now and again taking bites of the fried dough stick. More chatter… Mako has a boyfriend? Huh… Good for her, I guess. Hope she gets to spend time with him, whoever he is.
A squeal rips through the air as I am mid-bite on my churro, ripping me out of my mental fog and nearly making me choke. I look with wide eyes to see what the hell she’s screaming about.
Shining in the sun, a familiar shape wraps around Crow’s ring finger. A band of silver that appears to be marbled with something I can only describe as solid light, glowing a warm gold. There’s no doubting what it is, and the sight of it brought a pain that made the searing blast of the Ray Sphere and the absolute agony of the RFI ripping me apart feel like soothing balm.
An engagement ring…
All I can do is stare at the band as Mako starts gushing about the metal ring and Crow explains about how some guy named “Ezra” proposed to her in a sunflower field. I can’t make out any other details as the sound of static starts to rise in my ears.
I slouch back in the chair as the girls continue on about the prenuptials. My eyes can only stare ahead as the static drowns out everything. I can feel my heart pound and ache, my mind begins to race faster than before, then comes the laughter.
The cruel, mocking laughter.
His voice cackles as my hand slips into a pocket, my fingertips ghosting over the surface of a small, smooth box. I didn’t need to pull it out, I knew what it is by heart. I have pulled it out countless times before on cold, unforgiving nights. A relic of a time that will never come to pass, a reminder of what that bastard took away from me. Of a life robbed.
The ring I would have proposed to Trish with in Memorial Park on our anniversary.
Memories flicker before my eyes like a flipbook: of all the good times we shared through the years, all the grueling and hellish extra hours and shifts I pulled in my courier job just so I could save up enough money to buy the ring, the nights I stayed up… Fretting, planning, even practicing with a chair as a stand in so I could make the moment absolutely perfect for the woman who would be my forever.
Then come the memories of my world falling apart: of the Blast, of how Trish blamed me for her sister’s death because just because some TV jacker said I was the one who set the bomb off… Of hearing her scream as she fell to her death… How I couldn’t save her… And then his face. A decrypted mirror of my own, laughing at my misery.
It didn’t help that the woman with the ring looked so much like Trish…
“My my, what a beautiful ring.” That damned voice hisses in my ear. My body instinctively tenses, my jaw locking and biting down as my arms fold across my chest. “It’s a shame, really. If you had just followed the path I had set for you, you wouldn’t be seeing this.”
“Shut up, old bastard.” I growl back in my head, trying my hardest not to curl my lips and bare my teeth.
“Poor little boy.” He snickers. “You could have had peace, but you decided to be a defiant little shit. Now this is the price you must pay. I’m just here to remind you.”
“You don’t deserve happiness and you never will, you forfeited it the moment you dared to step out of line.”
The voice echos as I quietly scoff at the girls’ joy, whatever good mood I had now drained, leaving bitterness in its place. I roll my eyes at Mako squealing about god knows what when something catches my eye. Something very out of place hiding under a balloon stall. Something with white fur and ruby eyes.
… Is that a fucking rabbit? With antlers??
Confusion overtakes me as I look around. Nobody seems to notice this prey animal with headgear under the stall even though the jade white fur makes it stand out like a sore thumb against the shadows and the red dirt. I couldn’t help but to shake my head and rub my eyes to see if maybe I am actually going insane, but nope. That rabbit’s still there
“Hey uh… Sorry to interrupt the wedding talk…” I blurt out as I turn to face the girls who have apparently been staring at me for a bit. “But… Do you see that weird-ass rabbit?”
“Pardon me?” Crow questions with a look of confusion, oh god, she probably thinks I’m out of it.
“Yeah, there’s a rabbit under that stall just staring at us.”
The two girls lean over to where I’m pointing as I silently hope they could see it, a confirmation that I’m not going crazy. The two girls look at each-other before giving the other knowing glances. My eyes narrow as Mako looks at me with a Cheshire smile.
“Well? Better go catch it!” She says with a coy tone. I give her a questioning look before looking back at the rabbit again and…
Did that fucker just stick its tongue out at me?
Oh it’s fucking on, Thumper!
Note: I saw Dan Ticktum's Instagram following list a week ago and it turned out he refollowed his ex-girlfriend, Olivia Kilby. Based on his Social Blade stats and Instagram following order, he followed her around the end of last month. Not only that, he also followed her ceramic business account and her sisters. She also liked one of his recent Instagram photos. So, I think they are back together.
Part 3 of me looking at what the UK number one songs were when racing drivers were born. This time it's the FE grid (with a lot of track sharing going on here 😂)
Andre Lotterer - (19th November 1981) - Queen & David Bowie - Under Pressure
Lucas Di Grassi - (11th August 1984) - George Michael - Careless Whisper
Rene Rast - (26th October 1986) - Nick Berry - Every Loser Wins
Sam Bird - (9th January 1987) & Edoardo Mortara (12th January 1987) - Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite