Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia continued to look out the windows, Fia almost excitedly looking around out every single window at every ane hoping to catch the whale in some glimpse or another when it suddenly breeched right out in front of them. Seeing the sheer size of the animal made Fia's mouth drop open ever so slightly and smile as she took it all in. She had never seen any thing so large or beautiful in her life and knew she never would again unless she was incredibly fortunate. The colours of the whale complete fascinated her, as she took in its appearance as well as how many dorsal and pectoral fins it had and its tail and fluke. "woah" she breathed in a manner that was not quite a full out loud speech nor was it a whisper, but somewhere in between. Even the non English speakers would be able to translate her amazement because it was clear as day on her face and tone.

Kay was equally impressed but she didn't let it show on her face quite like Fia was, but she put that down to age rather than anything else. To her it was natural for a teenager or child to react in the manner Fia was, whereas adults usually were a lot more restraint in their reactions unless it was something truly unbelievable, or at least that was the case in her mind. "that...is truly something" Kay agreed almost speechless.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff had expected the whale to breach near them (why else would the depth measurements be decreasing?), but she hadn't expected it to be so close to their ship. She and her siblings had seen whales like this before, but the sheer beauty and size of such creatures never failed to impress them, all making impressed faces and noises that couldn't be anything other than they're equivalent of 'woah' and 'wow'. Matteo's jaw didn't quite drop like Fia's did, but his eyes seemed to bulge in his head, making it was clear he was making an effort not to stand there looking gormless at the sight. Even by native standards, this particular whale was a whopper size wise. Given it's size the animal had to be well over a hundred, maybe even two hundred years old. The extra fins helped with swimming long distance, as well as allowing the creature to execute much tighter turns, and in this case, also made a spectacular display during the breach as the water flew off the ridged fins.

Rinaa and Moya both had a looks of wonder in their eyes that was very similar to Fia's as they watched the whale breach. This was the first time either of them had seen a whale up close and both were completely taken by the graceful way it leapt from the water, surely a creature of that size shouldn't be so graceful. Elliott and Chas both let out noises of awe, neither being able to form coherent sentences, Elliott unknowingly reverting back to his native tongue- Attili- something that tended to happen when he was particularly emotional or stressed (or sometimes when he was very bored and speaking his native tongue was slightly more stimulating than speaking English). John didn't say anything, but the surprise and awe was visible all over his face, and his eyebrows seemed to have vanished completely int his hairline. He knew whales were big, but this creature was in a whole different category of big. The colours were incredibly striking, such a shade of purple shouldn't work on a whale (or any animal), yet it did. Even Jay looked utterly gobsmacked, for once not bothering to cloak her emotions, she'd seen whales before, but nothing as large, as incredibly coloured or as majestic as this one.

The whale hit the water with a tremendous splash, resulting in a massive shock wave that rocked the ship violently from side to side, all grabbing on to the nearest chair or wall railing in an effort not to fall over. John had already been standing near one, and his hand gripped tight around it, clinging on for dear life, his irrational fears flaring up again. The wave washed over the ship, splashing the whole cockpit window with water and pushing it under. For a brief moment the craft was completely underwater and all onboard were able to catch one final glimpse of the whale as it continued diving downwards, it's powerful tail thrusting up and down, driving it deeper and deeper. The craft then bobbed up to the surface, steadying out into a sedate rocking. John's knuckles had turned white from gripping the back of the seat in front of him so hard. He rubbed one hand over his knuckles after he let go, giving a low whistling sound. "Well that was bloody impressive" he said, shaking his head slightly, noticing out of the corner of his eyes that Cliff's hand were a flurry of movement as she translated his words for the benefit of her brothers and sister while Rinaa murmured in Attili in Moya's ear. "Everythin' about that fella makes Earth whales look shit." "Seeing a whale breach is considered to be a sign of future good luck in some cultures.... though most of them are whaling ones, so make what you will of that."

 

[MzHyde]

When the whales made the splash it did, Kay had already grabbed onto the chair she was in front of, guessing that when a creature that size dived again it would send a large wave to rock the ship. It was just basic physics in her eyes so she was already prepared for it, meaning it wasn't as much of a shock to the system when it happened, though it was still a shock. She glanced over and saw how white John's knuckles were going from how tightly he was holding on and suddenly she was beginning to wonder if being submerged in sea water was something that worried him. Yet once again, she said nothing, continuing to look forward to watch the whale dive deeper and further out of sight as they reemerged onto the surface of the water. She nodded in agreement at his words, thinking calling it impressive was a complete understatement.

When he said that creature made earth whales look shit, yet again she nodded as she listened to what Jay said straight after. "well let's hope it means good luck for us" she commented back, thinking that she'd take any good luck right about now for what's to come for them all on Attil. She then finally sat back in her seat, and buckled back up ready for when Cliff would start steering the ship again. Fia did the same thing after managing to come back to her senses from what she just saw. She was certain that every earth sea creature now was just going to look so boring and plain in comparison. "that's sure one hell of a way to end the trip!" she commented as she sat down and started to buce back up.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John couldn't help but smirk at what Jay said, he was pretty sure that any possible event was considered lucky by some culture or another out there in the multiverse, but it was the wry, slightly snarky way in which she specified whaling people that made it funny.Of course seeing a whale breach would be good luck for people who depended on whales for their income, to them it was like seeing a massive bag of cash jumping out of the water. Kay was right that they should take it as a sign of good luck, they were damn well going to need it in the coming days (and potentially weeks) they were going to spend on Attil Jay thought. They may have had a breakthrough with the graffiti, but there was so much more they needed to find out, not to mention Elliott's father was proving to be quite the wildcard- showing up at the wedding and not making any kind of scene, the way he'd acted during the prison visit, the fact that he didn't actually visit Elliott until days after he had arrived. She didn't trust Zan at all, but she had a sneaking suspicion that he was playing his own angle in this trial thing and knew something they didn't. He was hiding something, the only question being what.

"Agreed kiddo agreed. That was amazing." Chas nodded making his way back to his seat. The way John had latched tightly onto the sidebar of the ship hadn't escaped his notice, and he knew, despite the look of fading awe and surprise on his face that in the moment they went underwater John had been shitting bricks. If this craft had had been able to work as a submarine as well he was pretty sure they'd have needed to knock John out to get him on board. Checking that the others were strapped back in again, Cliff switched back on the engines, the sound of the lapping waves once again being obscured by the drone of the engine as their ship shot forwards. "Finish on an impressive note, that's what they say around here. You guys got really lucky, that whale was massive even by our standards, and with so much ocean, it's rare to be around when one breaches. And no, I didn't plan this, Matteo is good with animals, but summoning a whale isn't on his resume."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia didn't doubt that what they just witnessed was down to due pure luck. Fia also knew Matteo was good with animals but not that good. She felt like her sadness from leaving Meyer, Koso and Rhys was lessening now that her attention had been completely and utterly captivated by the whale in that moment. It strangely made leaving the island so much easier to do. "like Kay said, take it as a good luck sign then." Fia smiled as Cliff started the engines and steering them to the launch pads once again, and she looked out the windows once more putting the sight of the whale firmly into memory as she didn't get to take a photo of it.

Now sat back down, Kay's mind kept wandering back to John and the way he reacted to being submerged just moments ago which made her want to test something. Being that she was a lot calmer than he clearly was deep down, she focused all of her calm mentally through the bond on her wrist, hoping that that sense of calm would transfer to John, whilst looking like she was just looking out the window and minding her own business. She knew they could feel each other's emotions if they were strong enough, she remembered it happening when he went berserk at the League, she felt all of his anger herself. So she hoped sharing a bit of peace would help him, especially as it was still a slight learning curve. They had no idea the full extent of the bond between them, or if it could do anything remotely like what Cal and Cliff's could do. Yet for Kay, it was worth a shot.

Fia glanced over at Kay and John as she looked out the various windows, as she felt like she knew what Kay was doing even if it wouldn't be noticeable to anyone else. To anyone else Kay just looked like she was taking in everything and relaxing in her chair, but to Fia she could have sworn she saw all the incredibly subtle nods to her playing with her bond to John. A bond that she too inherited through birth but didn't tell either of them.

 

[_gallifrog_]

At first John didn't feel anything coming through the bond, and he was utterly oblivious to what Kay was attempting to do. He continued staring out the tiny porthole-like window beside him, his body relaxing back into the chair, the memory foam moulding itself seamlessly around his body. It would be a couple of minutes before he felt a sort of niggling tingling sense at the edge of his conscious mind and a slight burning sensation on his wrist. Had it just been a feeling at the edge of his mind, John would have blocked it out with walls and mentally shoved whatever feeler there was as far back as possible. He hated people trying to force their way into his mind (particularly psychics and telepaths), what happened in his head was his own business. But because it was coupled with a burning feel at his wrist John knew it was something happening over the bond, it couldn't be Fia (the one time she had forced her way into his head to warn him it had felt completely different), so that only left Kay. Evidently he hadn't been as smooth as he thought he had been in concealing the mental freak out when the ship went underwater. So he opened up his mind just a crack and let the calmness wash over him, letting in just enough to get him back to normal (or what was considered normal for him). He gave a nod of thanks in her direction, but said nothing more.

Cliff knew they had neared the sea pads when a low rumbling sound passed through the ship, rocking it from side to side. She recognised it as the distinctive shock and soundwave caused by a ship lifting off from one of the launch pads. At the same time on the horizon they could just about make out a ship blasting off, the brilliant white plume of propulsion gases standing out against the deep blue sky, stretching higher and higher with each passing second. At the very tip of the plume the ship in question was just about visible as a dark blur. "Well somebody's just jetted off so at least one pad here is operational." Nat remarked to Charlie, who nodded. "We probably won't be launching from the same pad as that ship that's launched, it's CAT class shuttle, and I doubt we count as executive business people." Rinaa replied in response, swivelling her seat around to talk to Cliff's siblings properly. "I wish we did, I heard they have an executive lounge with divine catering." Matteo sighed wistfully, the look on his face making it quite clear that he was thinking of luxury food. "And how would you know that mister I-don't-have-an-actual-job?" Charlie snorted with a roll of her eyes, only to be flipped off by her younger brother. In the pilot's seat Cliff couldn't help but roll her eyes before translating what had been said.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay just wanted to help, to show him that she would help him in any way as he helps her. Not only that, she only noticed his mental freak out because she noticed how hard he was holding on and she noticed the similar ticks in him as when she would have a freak out. She didn't want to strictly get into his head, but she was curious if it would work especially as she would be able to do it very subtly. Without moving her head, she glanced her eyes downward feeling deep under her skin the connection working through her bond with John, which made her glance up at John just to see him nod his thanks to her. She smiled at his thanks, leaving her 'you're welcome' unspoken, but conveyed in her look at him. She wasn't even sure if it work but seeing that it did work and he looked considerably calmer showed her it did work. She decided to make a mental note to remember that if it was needed again, it does in fact work.

Hearing the low rumbling of the a ship taking off, both Kay and Fia looked out to see the plume of gases streaking the sky spectacularly. They both looked to the singling who were talking with Rinaa, out of habit more than anything else before they looked at Cliff to see her translating what was being said, making them both smirk. "teenagers...always thinking with their stomachs" Kay chuckled. That made Fia look over at her mother feigning offence. "we do not always think with our stomachs.... Just.... 75% of the time" she retorted, not helping her own care in the slightest. "that's a shit defence Fia" Kay smirked. Fia just rolled her eyes waving her mother's words off.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Without being told what was going on John and Chas both knew that the rocking sensation the ship experienced was because of a spaceship taking off. Elliott for a brief moment wondered how Rinaa could know it was an executive ship when all he saw was a dark blur, but then he saw the way Rinaa and Moya's eyes were both narrowing, their pupils changing size dramatically. Moya had explained that along with her avian wings, she'd also been given avian eyesight which allowed her to zoom in on things. Evidently Rinaa had acquired a similar thing from her wolf side. The translated conversation between Cliff's siblings and Rinaa was amusing, prompting a smile of appear on the others' faces once Cliff translated for them. Fia's defence wasn't helping her at all, but it was amusing none the less.

Rinaa rolled her eyes at Kay's comment, smirking at what Fia followed it up before giving her own input on the topic. "Speak for yourself, teenagers are biologically programmed to think with their stomach and eat, hence why they have bottomless appetites at times. They're still developing and growing and as such need energy to fuel the cells. Getting that energy is number one priority, so no dissing us for thinking with our stomachs, we're just listening to our bodies and actually doing as we're told." she spoke in English, translating in sign for the benefit of Cliff's siblings before smirking, exposing one of her canine fangs and continuing. "And I know this is true because not only did I get told this by THREE separate doctors back home, Cliff gave me the exact same lecture after I passed out and damn gave myself a concussion by falling off a chair." She knew that Cliff would be able to read through the lines and understand that Rinaa was talking about what future Cliff had said about the various side effects of the transformation that was killing her, while Cliff's siblings would just fit it in neatly with the fact they knew that Cliff had diagnosed Rinaa as terminal.

"She's right there, everything she said is scientifically sound." Credit where credit was due, Rinaa was spot on with her science, she knew what she was talking about and Cliff didn't doubt that she'd been given the same speech by quite a few doctors."I DID give that speech. And it seems to have worked too, you haven't blacked out due to lack of food since." "It worked alright, it's not passing out that sucks, it's coming around from being knocked out." John, Chas, Elliott, Jay, Charlie, Cliff and Cal all nodded in agreement. "True, true, feels like my brain has been through a blender or something." Charlie remarked, only for Matteo to smirk and give the most predictable sibling comeback potentially ever "what brain?"

 

[MzHyde]

Fia and Kay both listened to Rinaa speak up after Fia said what she did, hearing her go on a long tangent about the science of why teenagers are always seemingly hungry. All it did in Kay's eyes was solidify what she said about them, so she just smirked at the whole thing as Fia then took her turn to roll her eyes. She didn't care about the science behind it all, all she cared about was that she ate when she was hungry, drank when she was thirsty and went about her day. At the comment about dissing teenagers for thinking with their stomachs, Kay just shrugged the remark off. Both girls were also aware of Rinaa finding the loophole in being able to say what future Cliff said without it sounding strange to Cliff's siblings.

Kay also had to agree (as did Fia) that coming round after either being knocked out or just simply blacking out was the worst part of it. Feeling so disorientated was always one of the worst feelings both girls felt. Kay knew what it felt like due to the times when Fee would take over, making her be asleep inside her own mind, or the time she died then came back to life. Fia knew what it was like being knocked out and coming to, surprised that in the times that had happened she wasn't taken in the process. With Matteo's comment translated, Fia just smirked at the typical teenage unoriginal remark.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Matteo's comment was so unoriginal and so cliched that Rinaa and Moya started snickering at it. Charlie's response was to pull out her phone, flick through her emails and once she had located the right message, lean over and shove the screen so close to Matteo's face that he went cross-eyed looking at it. "This brain here little brother. The one the doctors confirmed was not only still there and still working, but also showed no signs of concussion after that raid went sideways a couple of months ago." The screen did indeed show various images from the most recent scans that had been done on Charlie's brain. When Cliff's sister had first entered the police force after leaving military academy, she hadn't started off as an officer, started off as SWAT. Over the years she had migrated towards desk jobs and the CID division (hoping to one day finally reach detective), but she had never stopped working SWAT operations. Matteo looked at the photos and sighed, knowing Charlie had a point. "Fair point, you got me there." He conceded defeat, knowing that by speaking any more he'd just make it worse.

"Good, now you can shut up, I have to talk to the people in charge and see where we're to go next." They were drawing closer to the launchpads now, they could actually see the structure sticking out of the water in the distance. Cal was now piloting the boat in what John could only describe as the equivalent of an airport holding pattern, a large looping circle just outside the boundaries. Everybody fell silent as Cliff turned on the comms, stating first her name, then the name and class of the craft before giving the most important detail of all- the identification code for their launch window. There was a pause in which only the crackling of the radio could be heard before the confirmation came in. "Roger Milano-127. Proceed to coordinates 45 dash 0006 dash 32 on the south side, wait there until the pad is fully risen then approach, do not, repeat DO NOT approach until pad is fully risen." "Understood." Cliff replied, gesturing for Cal to exit the holding pattern and to head around the south side.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay smirked at Charlie proving Matteo's quip to be utterly false, finding it was such a good way of putting Matteo down to stop anymore little jabs from coming out. With everyone falling silent, Kay just sat comfortably enjoying the memory foam on her back as she always did, letting Cal and Cliff do their job as pilots. There wasn't exactly anything that she, Fia or anyone else could do anyway. She just listened to the communications go on, noting how their ship was called the Milano which made her smile ever so slightly, her movie and comic brain kicking in straight away but remained silent.

She and Fia watched on as Cal seemingly effortlessly steered their boat/ship to where they needed to go as they both looked out seeing everything around them, strangely finding familiarity in it strangely (or in Kay's case at any rate) to going to where they needed to go in an earth airport and being in the queue to be able to take off. She found it was one of those moments where it was familiar and strange all at the same time. Fia just sat still letting it all pass her by as her mind went back to thinking of what she could do to get John back, ideas popping into her mind finally as she mentally filed them under either crap, plausible or genius. Yet even the ones she liked the ideas of weren't quite hitting the mark for her. She needed something that was simple but also so epic that it showed John and everyone else she wasn't someone to half arse a prank. She wanted it memorable for everyone and if that meant possibly seeking help from someone she could trust to not ruin the prank, she would do it.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cal and Cliff both kept a close eye on the coordinates as Cal steered their little craft right around the perimeter of the complex. The launch pad complex was massive, maybe eight kilometres across. There were seventeen pads in total, arranged in a radial pattern around a central island which housed a structure that that served both the general terminal (containing restaurants, shops, baggage, toilets, crew quarters, boat hire and any other service that could possibly be considered necessary) and the flight control centre. The whole structure was heavily sound proofed, with tinted glass to dampen the brilliant while exhaust trails left by the craft as they took off. From above the whole thing looked like a giant bicycle rim, giant roads had been made that stretched out from the central island, reaching right to the pads (these were the spokes of the wheel). Five of the launchpads were for freight ships only, three were for executive use (be it rich business people or high ranking officials) and all the rest catered for public use.

Once they had reached the coordinates radioed in by the tower, Cal killed the engine and waited, the ship bobbing up and down in the water. They weren't alone either, bobbing alongside them Chas could count at least six other craft of a similar size to theirs (though potentially there could be more). Looking out in front of them here was nothing to see but ocean, and a flat, concrete face where the access road just cut off in mid air, leaving a fatal drop for anybody who happened to be driving along that road. It was as if the pad had been taken away, leaving everything around it intact. Cal and Cliff didn't look at all phased, John glanced over at Elliott who mouthed 'It rises up I think."

No sooner had the syllables left his mouth than the water in front of them began to bubble white and froth. The water was clearly being disturbed by something, the source wasn't above, so it had to be below. And then it was as if the sea itself gave birth, the whole pad emerging from underneath the ocean in one smooth motion, first the gigantic gantry that would support their rocket (which seemed to be wrapped in what had to be the biggest waterproof tarp John had ever seen in his life) appeared, rising gracefully out of the ocean. After that the pad itself breached the surface of the water, the pad was sloped with special channels designed to let as much of the water as possible run off. Underneath the pad was a complex lattice of enormous metal beams, support structure, hydraulic pumps and things John hadn't the faintest idea what they were called, but Rinaa most certainly did. Fully risen, the pad towered above the ships below, one almost had to crane their head back to take in the whole thing. It was big and insane and even Cliff's siblings looked surprised that such a structure could appear from under the water. It was exactly like Rinaa had said, the whole set up looked like something from a Bond film. "Bloody Hells, forget massive whales, this really puts Earth to shame." John whistled, between the whale and the launch pad he was well and truly stunned.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay could also see that there were other ships bopping up and down in the water waiting for their turn to be able to access the launch pad. She found the bopping up and down strangely calming, something she didn't think would be calming. Yet here she was, relaxing to the very motion and enjoying the silence for a little bit. When the launch pad started to rise and made the water bubble and froth up her attention snapped back into reality and watched the whole thing unveil itself. It was certainly a sight to behold and to her felt like she was witnessing something out of Thunderbirds or Marvel. Which said a lot about her growing up if she ever said those references out loud, but she didn't.

When the pad itself rose up she continued to watch with fascination in her eyes at how much mechanical structuring had to be put in to achieving such a thing. She smirked when John said this was more impressive than the whale and she had to admit he had a valid point on it to an extent, even if she thought they both equally put earth to shame. Fia didn't agree with the comment at all, as impressive as seeing this was, she still was on the opinion of the whales being something else entirely. Yet she was still a teenager and her biases were to animals and living creatures over technical accomplishes. "it's certainly something" Kay agreed, awe evident in her tone. "I'm gonna sound so bloody old right now and I know not everyone will get this... But this feels like the love child of the original Thunderbirds and Marvel's SHIELD" she added.

 

[_gallifrog_]

When Cliff had mentioned that the pad would rise out of the water, Chas had no idea that it would be so massive and so spectacular. Out of everything they'd sen so far the jump gates, the Dyson sphere, the myriad of spaceships and space craft out there, this had to be one of the most sci-fi and unbelievable. The whole thing was surrounded by water, surely all the mechanical and hydraulics would just get waterlogged and/or rusty, yet somehow here it was rising out of the sea without any problems. Elliott knew such pads existed, they were everywhere on waterworlds, where land was at a premium and building massive sea-structures was the only way to get things done. He knew some planets had entire underwater cities, encased under giant glass domes (and forcefields where possible) and Cliff had confirmed that her home planet was one such planet. This was the first time he'd seen such a thing in real life and just stared at it bug-eyed, then blinked a couple of times and shook his head, checking that this was indeed real, before letting out an awestruck whistle and the Attili equivalent of 'wooooah'.

As soon as the water started bubbling, Rinaa leaned forwards in anticipation, going as far forwards as physically possible, not caring about how the straps cut painfully into her body. Her eyes were alight with wonder and admiration, even higher levels then when she'd seen the whale. Rinaa, like Fia, loved animals, but unlike Fia, anything mechanical or technical always ranked higher than the feats of the natural world for Rinaa. The machinery behind the rising of the pad was incredibly complex and challenging to create and watching it never failed to blow her mind. jay, Elliott and Moya couldn't help but smile fondly at the look on Rinaa's face, the sheer passion clear as day.

Rinaa's reaction to Kay's pop culture references was to start giggling, which caused everybody to turn and look at her, wondering what could possibly be so funny. The increased attention only made things worse, the giggling quickly morphing into full blown laughter, making her flop sideways in the seat.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia both noticed how Elliott went bug eyed and tried to comprehend what it was he was seeing, as they also noticed the sheer appreciation in Rinaa's eyes. Both girls were still flabbergasted that what they were seeing was even possible and in fact part of reality. They both knew they would never be able to forget what they had seen and witnessed for a very long time. It felt so far from their own reality on Earth that there was no way they could forget it. When Rinaa started giggling at Kay's pop culture references, they both looked at her curious to why it was so amusing.

The looks only making her laugh even more, Fia found herself smirking at the sight. "why are her references so funny exactly? Apart from the fact she's showing her bloody age by referencing fricking Thunderbirds" Fia asked. Hearing Fia say that, Kay would have gladly thrown something at her if she had anything to throw, but she didn't. "I'm not THAT old missy!" Kay retorted, making Fia raise her eyebrow at her that conveyed 'really? Not buying it' in that typical cheeky teenage manner. She knew Kay was still in her way thirties in this time, but the Kay she knew was just that bit more older. Though she did still teasing her mother about her age, no matter the timeline.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa just shook her head at Fia's question, physically unable to speak due to the laughter. If she hadn't been strapped into the chair she was most definitely have fallen out of it. Moya looked at Rinaa then gave bemused shrug, giving the others a face that said 'I don't know what's going on either or what's so funny'. She genuinely didn't know, even when Cliff translated what had been said, it made no sense whatsoever. John couldn't help but smirking when Fia that classic thing of 'I am younger than you therefore shall take any opportunity to mock you in a good natured way about your age'. The banter between Kay and Fia on this topic was entertaining to watch, and he just instinctively knew that this was something that also happened in Fia's timeline (probably Rinaa's too).

Rinaa eventually regained enough control of herself to stop laughing and sit back in her seat properly. As she wiped her eyes she apologised, knowing she must have looked like a complete and utter nutcase. To everybody else there had been nothing funny about what Kay said, but for her there was a story of sorts. "Sorry about that, really I am." She took a deep breath, running her hands through her hair before continuing. "I'll explain but I doubt it'll make any sense.... And for the record this isn't just me finally having some kind of Joker-esque breakdown, no need to lock me up in Arkham just yet. It's just that my best friend made THE EXACT SAME references when he first saw clips of one of these sea-pads rising out of the sea. It bloody well blew his mind. And that got me thinking of what would happen if he ever met Kay and heard her making the same two references at he did. He'd probably fall out a window or something equally dramatic, which THEN got me thinking of the Loki scene where he goes 'I have been FALLING for THIRTY minutes'." Her Loki impression was spot on and accompanied by gestures that wouldn't look out of place on an orchestra director. "My friend is a breacher y'see, which gave me this hilarious mental image of him in that exact same falling situation as Loki and lost it." She ran a hand over her hair again, before remarking sarcastically more to herself than anybody else. "Which of course makes TOTAL sense because my thought process is SO normal, completely logical and not AT ALL fucked up."

 

[MzHyde]

The amusement in John's eyes didn't go amiss on Fia, always feeling smug when she knew she could amuse him with her antics. She was also glad that no one else understood why Rinaa was finding it so funny and that it wasn't just her and Kay being completely out of the loop. She was also very aware that Rinaa would have fallen out of the chair if it wasn't the buckles and straps holding her in place. She waited for Rinaa to regain her self control as did everyone else did, curious to know the answer for her manic laughing.

With her self control finally being regained, Kay and Fia both looked at Rinaa properly as she began explaining that the reason why it was so funny was down to the fact that one of her friends made the same two references. Though her whole story didn't make entire sense, it made enough sense to why she found what Kay said amusing. Fia also found it amusing just how off on a tangent Rinaa's mind went from the initial realisation. She was also impressed with her Loki impression, finding how spot on it truly was, smirking as she remembered the scene she was on about. "your mind seriously goes on off a weird amazing winding road sometimes" Fia chuckled, mensing it in the most complimentary way she could muster.

 

[_gallifrog_]

It did look like Rinaa was having some kind of breakdown, so to hear her say it wasn't one was a relief to both Jay and Elliott. It had crossed their minds before that with everything going on with Sykes there was a very real chance of Rinaa tipping over the edge and having a permanent psychotic and mental breakdown. The both breathed out slight sighs of relief before listening to Rinaa's explanation which could only really be described as sort of leapfrogging from one random thought to another, very slightly connected random thought. They were obviously missing a tone of context, but they did understand the film reference (it had been quite the meme) and knew what she meant by breacher metahuman. The image created was funny, but without any knowledge or idea of who precisely this friend was, they couldn't do more than titter and giggle slightly at the thought. "You're right that it doesn't really make a lot of sense, but I trust you that it's funny in context. Though I gotta say that was a VERY good impression." "Yeah, it really is a spot on Tom Hiddleston. That scene is far too quotable." Elliott replied with a smile. "That's WHY it's genius."

John would have smirked at the 'don't need to lock me in Arkham' remark had it not been for the two ominous words tagged on to the end- Just. Yet. Ever since his time in Ravenscar where he was tortured, mentally and physically, he had a thing about asylums, enough to make him grind his teeth at the very mention of the word and without a doubt Arkham was the worst of them all. The inmates were insane and evil to the core. It was a showcase of the very worst people Earth had to offer and for Rinaa to make a joke, even in passing, about ending up there didn't sit well with him. She had her problems, as did Sykes, but that was nowhere near enough justification for her to be locked up in that place. He could just about follow the leaps of logic and the very tenuous connections Rinaa was making, but he really didn't see what made the whole thing so funny. "Well then, I think I can safely say that I am really not sure what's goin' on in that head of yours."

Rinaa smiled at the compliment in her impression. "Good to knwo something good came from me watching that scene on repeat." She joked, before addressing Fia knowing that her cousin's words were meant as a compliment her smile growing slightly wider. "Oh I know all too well that I do that. Often in the heat of the moment even I don't understand where anything coming out of my mouth originates from. My brain is all over the place sometimes, like a ball of string being batted around by a cat that's high on crack or something." That made John snort loudly, the mental image of a cat doing drugs that popped into his head was far funnier than it should ahve been

 

[MzHyde]

Kay knew the moment that Arkham asylum was mentioned, it couldn't have sat well with John. She may not have known the full story of his time in Ravenscar, but she did some know some of it after he surprisingly opened up a bit about it due to the photograph falling on the floor during their sharing of memories moment in his apartment. She also knew of how bad Arkham was in the sense of its infamy of holding Gotham'a very worst criminals, including the most famous that was Joker. Knowing just what kind of people lived in Gotham always put her off ever visiting the city and it would take a lot for her to agree to ever go there. She also had her own issues with those 'hospitals' even as an outpatient which was why she chose to completely ignore that statement that Rinaa made in passing.

Fia was glad when Rinaa took what she said as a compliment, having a feeling she would have done, but she never took it for granted with anything of the sort when it came to Rinaa. Hearing her agree that her mind was a weird and wonderful tangled mess made Fia smirk and chuckle when she finished the description of a cat high on drugs playing with a ball of string. "so basically a step up from a cat high on catnip" she laughed, John's snort not going amiss. Kay also found the mental image rather amusing, but not as funny as John did, but only by a fraction. "that's quite the mental image!" Kay chuckled.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"I think it's more than just ONE step up from catnip, but yeah, the point still stands." Rinaa nodded, slumping back into her chair, feeling slightly smug about the snort of laughter she'd elicited from John with that remark, knowing that whatever mental image had popped into his head would have been enough to make any of them laugh. Now that the laughter had finished, Cal and Cliff could turn their attention back to the launchpad, or more precisely how they were going to get up and onto the pad. It was at least twenty metres from the surface of the sea to the surface of the pad. Cliff turned around again to face the others, "Right everybody, make sure you're belted in, this is gonna get a little crazy."

Once everybody had confirmed they were belted in and given a thumbs up, Cal put the engine into gear again, piloting the boat around to the west face of the pad and waited. Above them two mechanical arms came down on tracks along the side of the pad supports. One arm clamped onto the front of the craft while, the other attached firmly to the back. The thunk noise heard was not the sound of metal hitting metal, but the sound of the electro-magnets being turned on and locked. The inside of the ship was protected from the magnetism by a sort of Faraday cage like structure between the inner and outer skin of the ship, meaning there was no danger of phones or other tech being scrambled. The arms then whirred into life again, this time heading back up the tracks, the craft nestled safely in it's grasp. The device was a strange combination of a stair lift and a crane arm. The journey up was only slightly bumpy, the arms bringing up the ship deceptively smoothly.

Once the craft had been safely transferred on to the pad Cliff turned around. "Right everybody out, they're gonna fuel our ship then lift it up to the rocket housing and secure it in place. We can't be onboard for either, health and safety and all. We'll be sharing a rocket with the other craft in order to get out of the atmosphere, it's cheaper and means we get way more thrust from the boosters."

 

[MzHyde]

As Cliff gave her warning to make sure they were all securely strapped in, Kay and Fia joined in with the others to show that yes, everything was good for the next step of this departure. Both of them watched on as the arms of the structure came to life and round the ship, having wondered how they'd even get onto the pad just before their mental questions were answered. The sound echoing through the ship as the arms made contact making Fia out of natural instinct look up and round at where the sound was coming from, even thiugh she knew where and what was making it. It was just a defensive and curious habit she had to know exactly where the sounds were, a habit that was drilled into her from a young age, that ended up transferring into mundane events such as this.

With the craft secured, both Fia and Kay nodded at cliff saying they all had to exit the ship for health and safety reasons and it wasn't a case of them just leaving straight away. Unbuckling, Kay and Fia stood up with everyone else and followed on when everyone started to exit. The idea of sharing a rocket was just mind boggling to both girls but was impressed that it could even be a thing. "so.. How long does this all take and we have to get back into our ship? And what do we do in the mean time? " Fia asked curiously. Kay thought Fia had a very valid question as she had to admit, she too was curious about how long it would take.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Being hauled up the side of the rig was a strange experience, the front arm obscuring a significant portion of the view out of the front window. Fia wasn't the only one glancing around trying to pinpoint the source of the sounds, John, Chas, Elliott, Jay and Rinaa were doing it too (though the two women were far less subtle when it came to their sideways glances and head cocking. Elliott had been holding his breath the entire time they were being lifted up, only letting out his breath when he felt their ship touch down firmly on the pad. Cliff explanation as to why they had to leave made perfect sense and they disembarked the craft without questioning that part, but as soon as their feet were firmly on the pad they turned to the woman, questions clearly visible on their faces.

Fia beat them to it asking the most important ones, which also just so happened to be the ones on everybody else's mind, but there were plenty more questions, both Chas and John had been shocked at the idea of sharing a rocket with another spacecraft, vaguely aware that such a thing was possible with small satellites, but whole spaceships just seemed a step too far. "What d'ya mean, share a rocket?" John asked, scepticism written all over his face. "Are we all gonna be squeezed in like sardines in a tin?" "Is that even safe?" Chas couldn't help but ask, the idea sounded utterly ludicrous to him. He knew that Cliff was both smart and considerate, she genuinely cared about them and as a doctor it would be against her ethical and moral code to put them in a stupidly dangerous situation, especially as Kay was pregnant."And what happens after we exit the atmosphere? Are we gonna be stuck with those other ships or will it be like some kind of bus drop off with each ship being let go of at a different time?? "

Cliff listened to the stream of questions coming at her at once, taking a moment to mull them all over before starting her answer. "Yes it is safe, as safe as any rocket launch can be, the difference in danger between a rocket launching with multiple small ships as payload and one giant ship is negligible, I've done the research and done this kind of flight before. There's no way I'd even let you guys near the pad if it wasn't safe you have my word on that." She said in a voice that managed to be both solemn and reassuring at the same time, a voice she often used to talk to patients or their families. "The crafts go in a specially designed harness like structure" She gestured in the direction of a cylindrical metal structure, that reminded John of the plastic battery chambers for torches that allowed three batteries to be fit in, except far, far larger and with space for six craft. "which goes right inside a protective casing, there'll be no view on this launch. It's not exactly glamorous, but like I said, it's safe and as comfortable as one can get. Once we leave the planet's atmosphere, the outer rocket casing will split apart, leaving just the harness and boosters. The ships will all exit in formation, the front three first, splitting off into different directions and nobody fires the main thrusters until everybody is clear. Then the process is repeated for the second three craft."

"Between fuelling,securing the craft in the harness, hoisting the craft up and safety checks.... give or take....." Cliff did the maths in her head "anywhere between forty minutes and an hour. then boarding and another ten between the time the casing is sealed, the pad is cleared and launch" Cal then took over explaining. "In the mean time, we can either hang around here on an exposed pad and watch the whole thing happen or just head to the main terminal where it's warmer and less windy, cruise around the shops, maybe check out the view from the roof."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay also listened to the other questions that came out of Chas and John's mouths, also finding them to be very very valid questions to ask. She did however trust that there would be no way Cliff would let them do this kind of take off if it wasn't safe, particularly as she was pregnant and at most risk of having something go wrong compared to all of them. Yet despite her faith in Cliff it was nice to hear Cliff say it out loud that they were perfectly safe in doing this, as the idea of being squished in other strangers like sardines in a tin didn't sound appealing at all with her and she was convinced if that sort of thing happened, it would bring on another panic attack for her, especially as the last time she was remote trapped in any way was when the demons did get her and she was chained up. So the idea od squished in anywhere with little movement would just trigger her panic from that night.

She listened intently and looked over at where Cliff was gesturing at, seeing what Cliff was trying to explain, nodding as Cliff spoke in a sense of understanding. She continued to listen glad that it wasn't a case of squished together, mentally sighing with relief at the news. With Cal adding to the explanation by answering Fia's question in the process, Fia nodded and liked the latter option by far. "latter definitely sounds the better option" Fia smiled, much preferring the warmth to the windy outside environment that they were currently amongst. "I'm with Fia, warmth over wind any day" Kay smirked who was tightly pulling her jacket right across her as best she could, for the first time in her life feeling glad that she had her jacket oversized to fit many layers underneath and cope with a baby bump.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John, Chas and Elliott listened intently as Cliff explained what was going to happen. All were feeling nervous and uncertain about the whole thing in some capacity, Elliott may have been born on Attil and grown up around all kinds of space travel, but that was half his life time ago and he didn't remember a lot of it. So he was just as in the dark as John and Chas as to what was going on. All three understood enough of Cliff's explanation to nod along with it, but it was her soft tone and the underlying steely confidence beneath that was more reassuring. They had only really just met the doctor, having only known her for a couple of weeks, but by now they all trusted her with their lives. Everybody in their group knew that not only was she a good doctor, determined to her job right (as seen in the way she dealt with everybody when Kay first experienced morning sickness and everything she'd done for John and Kay since then, not to mention the reading up she'd been doing on cases like Rinaa's still looking for something that might have been missed) but she was a good, sound person too- having willingly let John and co stay in her flat, helping out with breaking out Elliott under the radar, making sure that everybody was eating enough and had money when they went out and all kinds of small gestures that had made their time on Attil so much better. If Cliff said it was safe and that they'd be fine, they were all going to believe her.

Cal smiled broadly when Fia decided that going inside was the better option. It was what she wanted all along anyway, her tone and descriptions of the two options made that quite obvious. "Good choice kiddo, I have nothing against freezing me arse off in the middle of the ocean when I'm getting paid, but when there is a warm, toasty building on offer, I'm damn well gonna take it." Cliff rolled her eyes at her wife's remark. "Callie, you really have no reason to complain about anything. Yes those training exercises were brutal and made you want to throw yourself off the carrier ship, gods know that basically became your catchphrase for that entire exercise! But it's nothing compared to being tossed around on a tiny fishing trawler in a level 5 typhoon with a solar flare fritzing the navigation equipment." The two women continued bickering back and forth for the entire duration of the ride to the main terminal, slipping from English to Attili to Cliff's native tongue and then to sign language. There was something strangely endearing about the two women bickering in sign language, and Chas couldn't help but smirk and say to the others "well this brings a new meaning to bickering like an old married couple."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia knew the second option was always going to be the one that was taken, she could indeed tell by Cal's tone of voice, yet she still wanted to be that person that had to reply out loud with what she did. She smirked when Cal called her kiddo, having noticed over the last few days that everyone was picking up the habit of calling her that and not just her parents. She didn't mind in the slightest and strangely found it incredibly endearing that they felt comfortable enough round her to feel they could call her by the sort of pet name rather than her actual name, thus keeping it rather formal, especially as in her timeline due to her being Elliott's biological sister, Cal is sort of her step sister as well. She watched on as Cal and Cliff kept bickering lovingly at each other as they did the ride to the terminal, finding it was strangely hypnotic as well as endearing to watch as they kept changing up the languages.

Fia and Kay chuckled at Chas' remark about bickering like an old married couple, nodding in agreement. "that it does" Kay replied. Fia just kept watching the two women smirking to herself, finding it felt so familiar to her timeline seeing the two be like this. She could pick up certain words of their sign as she was still learning sign herself and recognised a few from being used over the course of being around them so much these last two weeks. It just made her more determined to learn sign properly when she went home so she could surprise her timeline's versions of Cal and Cliff by knowing a few things.

Upon reaching the terminal, Kay had stopped tightly holding her jacket around her front, finding she was indeed warming up once again now she was out of the wind. As much as she loved feeling the wind in her hair when she was able to stretch her wings, she didn't like it in the manner of standing on a launch pad having it seemingly cut through her making her feel the cold so much more.