Something Crazy

He had no idea how much time had gone by, and neither did he know exactly where they were going, but all he could think about was Aaliyah's safety as he regained consciousness. His whole world was a green blur, but he managed to make out a few soldiers at the foot of the cargo hold.

            "...three god damned days, and we're still stuck on this plane," one of the soldiers said.

            "Must've made at least five stops as well, but I never see anything being unloaded. Except for our tied up friend over there," another said then chuckled. Ed figured he was the big round one, as his vision still hadn't returned. 

            "Be glad. Was stationed up at the labs yesterday. I overheard that they had to unload two body bags. No idea what was in them, though."

            "Uhh, bodies?" the round one remarked and chuckled again.

            Ed's vision still hadn't returned, but he decided on trying to get his arms free anyway. It felt like he had been let free since he had no sore around his wrists. He also felt revitalised, even though he felt like throwing up and passing out -- they must have fed him somehow while he was out.

            "Shut up," Connor said as he came into the cargo hold. Ed could make nothing out except that he hadn't been wearing that fancy silk of his any longer. He figured that he had to take it off for some reason when in front of the soldiers. Or mercs, or whatever the hell they were. "All three of you are needed in containment."

            The soldiers reluctantly picked up their weapons and walked out the cargo hold, the pudgy one behind of course. This left Connor and Ed alone, and he knew that Connor would probably take more time coming up with shitty one-liners and supposed witty remarks, which gave him the upper hand. What he didn't have though, was his vision... An asset he had learned never to take for granted in the past.

            "So how long has it been?" Connor started, to which Ed merely shook his head. "Three days, I think!"

            "Tell me something I don't know," Ed remarked and shook his head again. He needed to see before he could do anything.

            Connor paced up and down before Ed, to whom he was just a tall blue blur. He was much more silent than the previous few times they had exchanged words. For a moment Ed thought about blessings and the great beings that inspired them, but lost all faith the moment the idiot had opened his mouth again.

            "So, Edmund... Edwin or whatever. We've already established that you're one hell of a marksman. Can't be much of a marksman without eyes, now can you?"

            Ed smirked and spat on the floor. His eyes rolled as he tried to blink.

            "Thought so," Connor said and started pacing again. "You know, Aaliyah's been nice!"

            "Where is she?" Ed demanded, thrashing his head in Connor's blurry direction, then suddenly went quiet and sat still while looking down, as best he could.

            "Aw, you scared?"

            "Are you?"

            Connor was silent again, he hadn't figured out that Ed had realised that his provoking was exactly that, and that Aaliyah was probably fine in the containment area he had mentioned.

            "You know what I can do to you, given any sharp object possible to throw," Ed continued flatly, emotionlessly. "You know how many men I had been able to take out, more than fifty miles away, without once focusing on my target. You know how fast I could rip your Adams apple right from your throat, just by being close enough to hear you."

            Connor was silent still, then backed away a bit, spat in the same direction Ed had earlier, then started walking away.

            "Are you?" Ed asked again and laughed as his eyes rolled and his head turned in rapid succession so he could make out the footsteps fading away.

 

Connor opened the huge metal door and entered Abigail's room without her say so. She just sat there, the book she had been reading laying square on her breast.

            "Trouble?" she asked coldly.

            "That idiot is becoming crazy, one day at a time," Connor said, "he's bat shit crazy as we speak, thrashing his head about, laughing about things that may never happen. And the he musters up the balls to ask me whether I am scared! me! He doesn't know who the hell he is dealing with!"

            "Damn right he doesn't and it better stay that way. Until we get these deliveries done," Abigail replied, which made Connor keep quiet for a while.

            "So you think the counsel is right?"

            "With what?"

            "About our little friend in captivity, Edwin."

            "Edward, yeah. I have a feeling he'll bring them right to us."

            Connor was quiet again. He hadn't had any sleep since they took off. He figured that they would be long done by the time they had landed the third time.

            "Go get some sleep," Abigail said after a while. "I believe there are four more stops before we finally get to divert to Hong Kong."

            At that, Connor swore and walked out of Abigail's quarters, across the hall, and entered his own, where he collapsed onto the bed and at least tried to do what his partner had ordered him to.

 

Ed sniffed as he felt his nose wanting to run. At least, he think that's what he had felt since he couldn't feel most of it. Thankfully he did still have his sense of smell though, so it seems like he had just lost his vision.

            The best his eyes could muster was seeing a few more meters ahead, though everything was an even bigger blur that far away. The chair he was bound to seemed to have been bolted to the floor or something, as he couldn't manage to knock himself over in the various attempts he had made to get loose.

            Thanks to the soldiers earlier, he at least now knew that they had been stopping at least five times, which meant that even though it may not have been cargo, something had to be unloaded from or loaded onto the carrier.

            It had also been three days, and even though he was aware to some extent that they had been sustaining him, he couldn't help but think about Aaliyah and whether she was alright or not. Fortunately he had figured out that the idiot who seemed to have rank over the soldiers was all talk and no play, at least to some extent. Unfortunately Ed didn't have his eyes in order to fully read the man, and what exactly his face could tell about his constant barking.

            Something blurry came into view. Ed shot his head up and focused on it, trying to figure what who or what it was, and why it was there.

            "Hello, Mr. Swardt," the man said as he stopped in front of Ed. His accent clearly made him sound like an old war veteran.

            "You another one of his lackeys? What, he can't come and bark senselessly at me himself?" Ed said and tried to smile, though he had no idea just how much he had been able to do it really.

            The man was quiet -- contemplating his next words. Ed could hear him open his mouth and closing it again as he thought about what to say. "Your girlfriend is safe," he finally said, which definitely got Edward's attention. "To keep it this way, you will listen, and listen only..."

            Ed grimaced as he tried to get his bounds off again, to no avail. He then let his head hang, and tried to roll his eyes upwards. He probably failed at doing that, too.

            "We may not be friends, Mr Swardt, but both of us can benefit off this."

            Ed stayed quiet. One could not really tell if he had been listening other than the fact that he spat to his left and held his left ear in the man before him.

            "I can't tell you much more other than the fact that you aren't the only one who hates them. Now, I have to go, and you have to... do what you do here." the man then walked off, slowly becoming more and more of a blur, until Ed heard the cargo hold door open, and then close again.

            So Aaliyah was safe. Good. Even though the man was correct in saying that they were not friends, Ed felt that he could trust the man, whoever he was. Definitely sounded a lot more respectful than the other idiot. Now, Ed could concentrate fully on regaining his vision and getting the hell out of there, finding Aaliyah, and finding a way off the plane.